Intact clay envelope From Choga Mish, Iran. The exterior is stamped with seal impressions, while the interior contains tokens. These envelopes were used as receipts in economic transactions in Mesopotamia. Photo by Anna Ressman courtesy Oriental Institute.
Employing advanced technology, researchers are coming closer to understanding clay balls used in economic transactions in Mesopotamia. Christopher Woods and his colleagues at the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute have collaborated with leading CT-scan and digital imaging firms to study 18 clay balls excavated at Choga Mish, Iran. The balls, which can be as small as golf balls or as large as baseballs and functioned as early “envelopes,” are marked with seal impressions. Contained within these hollow balls are small clay tokens. Scholars agree that the envelopes, the earliest of which date to the middle of the fourth millennium B.C.E., were an early administrative device for proto-literate societies. The envelopes served as receipts: The tokens sealed within the envelopes represent commodities involved in an exchange, and the sealing of the tokens within the envelopes prevented fraud. Still being studied is the relationship between the seal impressions on the outside of the envelopes and the tokens contained within. One famous, though hotly debated, theory first developed by Denise Schmandt-Besserat in 1992 proposed that the tokens were the earliest cuneiform signs. According to the theory, the flat tablet eventually replaced the ball-shaped envelope. In place of seal impressions and tokens, two-dimensional cuneiform signs that evolved from these geometric-shaped tokens were drawn onto the tablet. The theory has since renewed discussion over the origins of writing in Mesopotamia.
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