BULLA-ENVELOPE: 1 PLAIN TOKEN
MS | 4638 |
MS Short Title |
BULLA-ENVELOPE: 1 PLAIN TOKEN |
Text |
BULLA-ENVELOPE WITH 1 PLAIN TOKEN INSIDE, REPRESENTING AN ACCOUNT OR AGREEMENT OF TENTATIVELY 1 VERY LARGE MEASURE OF BARLEY, THE YEAR'S PAY FOR ONE MAN |
Description |
Bulla in clay, Syria/Sumer/Highland Iran, ca. 3700-3200 BC, 1 spherical bulla-envelope (complete), diam. 6,0-6,8 cm, cylinder seal impression of several men facing tall ringstaff; and another with animals; token inside: 1 large sphere diam. 2 cm (D.S.-B.2:2). |
Context |
Only 25 more bulla-envelopes are known from Sumer, all excavated in Uruk. Total number of bulla-envelopes worldwide is ca. 165 intact and 70 fragmentary. |
Commentary |
While counting for stocktaking purposes started ca. 8000 BC using plain tokens of the type here, more complex accounting and recording of agreements started about 3700 BC using 2 systems: a) a string of complex tokens with the ends locked into a massive rollsealed clay bulla (see MS 4523), and b) the present system with the tokens enclosed inside a hollow bulla-shaped rollsealed envelope, sometimes with marks on the outside representing the hidden contents. The bulla-envelope had to be broken to check the contents hence the very few surviving intact bulla- envelopes. This complicated system was superseded around 3500-3200 BC by counting tablets giving birth to the actual recording in writing, of the sexagesimal counting system (see MSS 3007 and 4647), and around 3300-3200 BC the beginning of pictographic writing (see MSS 2963 and 4551). |
Place of origin | Syria / Sumer / Highland Iran |
Dates | ca 3700 - 3200 BC |
- ADVANCED MANUSCRIPT SEARCH
- 1. Bible
- 2. History
- 3. Literature
- 4. Palaeography
- 4.1 Early Writing
- 4.2 Greek Book Scripts
- 4.3 Latin Book Scripts
- 4.3.1 Roman Scripts
- 4.3.2 National or Relgional Scripts
- 4.3.3 Carolingian Minuscule
- 4.3.4 Romanesque
- 4.3.5 Gothic
- 4.3.6 Italian & Humanistic
- 4.3.7 East European
- 4.4 Latin Documentary Scripts
- 4.5 Greek & Other
- 4.6 Aramaic, Hebrew & Syriac
- 4.6.1 Proto-Canaanite / Early Phoenician
- 4.6.2 Aramaic
- 4.6.3 Jewish Aramaic
- 4.6.4 Hasmonean Hebrew
- 4.6.5 Herodian Hebrew
- 4.6.6 Hebrew Square
- 4.6.7 Semi-Cursive Hebrew
- 4.6.8 Rabbinic Cursive
- 4.6.9 Samaritan
- 4.6.10 Syriac Estrangela
- 4.6.11 Syriac Sertâ
- 4.6.12 Syriac Rabbinic
- 4.6.13 Christian Palestinian Aramaic / Palestinian Syriac
- 4.6.14 Mandaic
- 4.6.15 Manichaean
- 4.6.16 Angelic Script
- 4.7 Arabic
- 4.8 Native American
- 5. Patristic Literature
- 6. Liturgy
- 7. Music
- MUSIC NOTATION
- 7.1 Sumerian Music
- 7.2 Babylonian Cuneiform
- 7.3 Ancient Greek
- 7.4 Byzatine Notation
- 7.5 Metz (Messine)
- 7.6 North French
- 7.7 Aquitanian Neumes
- 7.8 Palaeo-Frankish (St Amand)
- 7.9 St Gallen Neumes
- 7.10 Toscana Neumes
- 7.11 Bologna Neumes
- 7.12 Beneventan Neumes
- 7.13 Catalan Neumes
- 7.14 Cistercian Neumes
- 7.15 English Neumes
- 7.16 Metz-Gerrman Gothic
- 7.17 Hufnagel / German Gothic
- 7.18 'Tête de Marteau' Notation
- 7.19 Square Notation
- 7.20 Praha Notation
- 7.21 Estergom Notation
- 7.22 Wroclaw Notation
- 7.23 Mensural Notation
- 7.24 Tablature Notation
- 7.25 Old Russian Neumes
- 7.26 Osmanic Letter Notation
- 7.27 Vedic Numeric Hand
- 7.28 Koto Notation
- 7.29 Chinese Gongchi
- 7.30 Graphic Notation
- 7.31 Virtual Notation
- COMPOSERS AT WORK
- 7.32 Renaissance Music
- 7.33 Baroque Music
- 7.34 Classical Period
- 7.35 Romanticism
- 7.36 Modern to 1950
- 7.37 Contemporary
- 8. Law
- 9. Mathematics
- 10. Magical Literature
- 11. Calendars & Almanacs
- 12. Dead Sea Scrolls
- 13. Scribal Activity & Learning
- 14. Papyri & Ostraca
- 15. Bindings & Bookboxes
- 16. Seals
- 17. Apocryphal Literature
- 18. Nordic Countries
- 18.1 Norway
- MS 566/1
- MS 1385
- MS 2151
- MS 2116/2
- MS 2118/1
- MS 2526/3
- MS 2119/1
- MS 2113
- MS 2223/16 (Seals)
- MS 1281 (Music)
- MS 1576 (Palaeography)
- MS 2913 (Calendars)
- MS 2222/3 (Calendars)
- MS 2222/2 (Calendar)
- MS 1570 (Palaeography)
- MS 2128 (History)
- MS 2132 (Smaller Collections)
- MS 4473 (Smaller Collections)
- MS 2114 (Literature)
- MS 2526/1 (Literature)
- MS 2115/1 (Literature)
- MS 2120/4 (Smaller Collections)
- MS 2120/1 (Smaller Collections)
- MS 2526/2 (Smaller Collections)
- MS 2774 (Smaller Collections)
- MS 2138 (Smaller Collection)
- MS 4471 (Smaller Collection)
- MS 5272/1 (Smaller Collections)
- MS 2117/3 (Literature)
- MS 2140 (Smaller Collecitons)
- MS 2306 (Bible)
- MS 2255 (Smaller TBA)
- 18.2 Sweden
- 18.3 Denmark & Greenland
- 18.4 Finland
- 18.5 Iceland
- 18.1 Norway
- 19. Dictionaries & Lexical Texts
- 20. China
- 21. Pre-Gutenberg Printing
- 22. Buddhism
- 23. Religions
- 24. Smaller Collections
- 24.1 Architecture
- 24.2 Books of Hours
- 24.3 Letters
- 24.4 Legends & Proverbs
- 24.5 Children's Literature
- 24.6 Library Catalogues
- 24.7 Maps
- 24.8 Marine Life
- 24.9 Medical Texts
- 24.10 Miracles & Saints
- 24.11 Peerage Genealogies
- 24.12 Roman Military Diplomas
- 24.13 Ships & Seamanship
- 24.14 Slavery
- 24.15 Weights & Measures
- 24.16 Wine & Beer
- 24.17 Women Authors
- 24.18 Miscellaneous