{"id":4618,"date":"2020-02-18T08:58:46","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T08:58:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mathscitech.org\/articles\/?p=4618"},"modified":"2023-07-29T11:14:17","modified_gmt":"2023-07-29T10:14:17","slug":"cuneiform-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mathscitech.org\/articles\/cuneiform-culture","title":{"rendered":"Exploring cuneiform culture (8500-2800 BCE)"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

This is Part 3 in the Ancient Mathematics series.<\/strong> (To read earlier parts: Part 1: Prehistoric Origins of Mathematics<\/a>, Part 2: The Mathematics of Uruk and Susa<\/a>).<\/p>\n

This article explores what the people of Mesopotamia wrote about, counted and produced in the last part of the fourth millenium BCE. It does so by examining the frequency of signs in the proto-cuneiform tablets from the period c.3500-3000 BCE. For those wishing to build up experiential understanding of life in the Neolithic and early Bronze Age near east, this article provides suitable references as well as practical explorations of the economic and productive activities of the people: rope-making from grass, basket-weaving from reads, baking, weaving of cloth from linen, breaking ground, sowing, reaping, making flour, etc. <\/p>\n

The first part of the article look closely at the collection of artifacts in each period that are associated with the evolution of writing and mathematics in ancient Mesopotamia, examining noteworthy individual artifacts that showcase a key development. <\/p>\n

The study uses the CDLI database of cuneiform documents, and software I’ve written that parse the files in the CDLI database, extracting counts, parsing signs, generating frequency distributions of signs, creating a proto-cuneiform glossary, and assisting in the quantitative analysis of artifacts and semi-automated translation (see CDLI parser software library written in Ruby).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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The earliest written documents<\/h3>\n

Writing began c.3500 BCE in Uruk in southern Mesopotamia (Iraq) as the culmination of a series of innovations for better economic control. These innovations simplified and extended a pre-existing quantitative tradition that appears to reach back as far as 8500 BCE (5 millenia prior). <\/p>\n

What led to this pre-existing ancient quantitative tradition? The impetus was the management (generation, collection, and redistribution, trade) of the surpluses produced following the transition to sedentary life. Over time [Charvat\/2002<\/a>], early Mesopotamian settled civilization increased agricultural yields through better tools and practices, leading to bigger harvests (barley, wheat, grain), the growth of livestock herds (sheep, goats, cows, pigs, birds) the extraction of animal products (milk, cheese, meat, eggs, wool, leather) and the rise of specialized craftsmen (brewers, carpenters, sculptors, potters, and weavers) manufacturing from grain, wood, stone, clay, flax (plant-based), wool and leather (animal-based).<\/p>\n

The innovations that led to writing and mathematics was initially concentrated in the city of Uruk with its early temple economy whose administrators needed to account for transactions (archaic book-keeping) as the contributing population grew expanding beyond what could be managed through trust relationships and collective memory. The success of Uruk and its centrally managed economy led to growing power, influence, trade, and the spread of this new technique. An early rival, Susa in Elam, shows a similar arc in written and mathematical artifacts around the same period, followed by the spread of this new mathematical and literate technology wider afield through the various city-states of southern Mesopotamia and western Khuzistan.<\/p>\n

Cultural Exploration: Ways of Life and Thought<\/h3>\n

Daily Life<\/strong>
\n[Chavrat\/2002] describes ways of life during the Neolithic through to the Early Bronze Age (c.3500) when writing began.<\/p>\n

The Sumerian Precedence Debates (Disputation Literature)<\/strong> provide first-hand insight (stylized) into the ways of life of the Sumerians. They were composed in the mid- to late third millenium BCE (c.2500-2000), once writing had evolved beyond its original book-keeping\/accounting function.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Debate between Sheep and Grain<\/a>\n
  2. Debate between Winter and Summer<\/a>,\n
  3. Debate between Hoe and Plough<\/a>,\n
  4. Dumuzid and Enkimdu (Herdsman and Farmer)<\/a> (or Innana Chooses Farmer)\n
  5. Debate between Bird and Fish<\/a>, (the fate of the marshes in s. iraq<\/a>)\n
  6. The Home of the Fish<\/a>, (the importance of fishing to the ancient ways<\/a>)\n
  7. Debate between Tree and Reed,\n
  8. Debate between Silver and Copper<\/a>,\n
  9. Song of the Hoe<\/a>,\n
  10. Date Palm and the Tamarisk<\/a>\n<\/ol>\n

    Sumerian Heroic Literature<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Sumerian King List<\/a> from the Weld-Blundell Prism<\/a>\n
    2. The Tummal Inscription<\/a>\n
    3. Epic of Atrahasis<\/a> (aka Noah, Utnapishtim, Zinsuddu)\n
    4. Enmerkar cycle, 4 narrative poems about Enmerkar of Uruk and his commander Lugalbanda.\n
        \n
      1. Enmerkar (of Uruk I) and the Lord of Aratta<\/a>\n
      2. Enmerkar and En-suhgir-anna<\/a>\n
      3. Lugalbanda in the mountain cave<\/a>\n
      4. Lugalbanda and the Anzu bird<\/a>\n<\/ol>\n
      5. Gilgamesh cycle: 5 poems about Gilgamesh of Uruk and Aga of Kish, son of Enmenbaragesi\n
          \n
        1. Epic of Gilgamesh<\/a>: Gilgamesh & Humbaba (Huwawa) (Version A<\/a>, Version B<\/a>),\n
        2. Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven<\/a>,\n
        3. Gilgamesh and Aga<\/a> (of Kish I),\n
        4. Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the nether world<\/a>,\n
        5. The death of Gilgamesh<\/a>\n<\/ol>\n<\/ol>\n

          Sumerian Wisdom Literature<\/strong>
          \nWas a favourite item for scribes to copy. Circulated throughout Near East and was studied and copied to the end of Cuneiform.<\/p>\n

            \n
          1. Proverbs Collection<\/a>;\n
          2. Instructions of Shurrupak<\/a> (apparently to Zinsudda, aka Utnapishtim, Atrahasis, Noah, before the flood), first existent copy from c.2500 BCE (which would have been soon after writing was expanded to capture the spoken word and therefore literature).\n
          3. Advice of a Senior to a Junior Scribe<\/a>\n
          4. Farmer’s Instructions<\/a>,\n
          5. A man and his god<\/a>\n
          6. The Heron and the Turtle<\/a>\n<\/ol>\n

            Reference:
            \n[Cohen, Wassermann, 2018] – Mesopotamian Wisdom Literature, Ch.8<\/p>\n\n

            Before Writing – Pre-Uruk V stage (8500-3500 BCE)<\/h3>\n

            Vital Stats:<\/strong><\/p>\n