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Dr Peter Damerow, a specialist in Sumerian cuneiform at the Mac Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, said, “It is likely that there were mutual influences of writing systems around the world. However, their great variety now shows that the development of writing, once initiated, attains a considerable degree of independence and flexibility to adapt to specific characteristics of the sounds of the language to be representation of words by pictures. New studies of early Sumerian writing, he said, challenge this interpretation. The structures of this earliest writing did not, for example, match the structure of spoken language, dealing mainly in lists and categories rather than in sentences and narrative.
For at least two decades, Dr Denise Schmandt-Besserat, a University of Texas archaeologist, has argued that the first writing grew directly out of a system practiced by Sumerian accountants. They used clay tokens, each one shaped to represent a jar of oil, a container of grain of a particular kind of livestock. These tokens were sealed inside clay spheres, and then then number and type of tokens inside was recorded on the outside using impressions resembling the tokens. Eventually, the token impressions were replaced with inscribed signs, and writing had been invented.
Though Dr Schmandt-Besserat has won much support, some linguists question her thesis, and others, like Dr Pittman, think it too narrow. They emphasise that pictorial representation and writing evolved together. ‘There’s no question that the token system is a forerunner of writing,’ Dr Pittman said, ‘but I have an argument with her evidence for a link between tokens and signs, and she doesn’t open up the process to include picture making.’
Dr Schmandt-Besserat vigorously defended her ideas. ‘My colleagues say that pictures were the beginning of writing,’ she said, ‘but show me a single picture that becomes a sign in writing. They say that designs on pottery were the beginning of writing, but show me a single sign of writing you can trace back to a pot- it doesn’t exist.’ In its first 500 years, she asserted, cuneiform writing was used almost solely for recording economic information, and after that its uses multiplied and broadened.
Yet other scholars have advanced different ideas. Dr Piotor Michalowski, Professor of Near East Civilizations at the University of Michigan, said that the proto-writing of Sumerian Uruk was ‘so radically different as to be a complete break with the past’. It no doubt served, he said, to store and communicate information, but also became a new instrument of power. Some scholars noted that the origins of writing may not always have been in economics. In Egypt, most early writing is high on monuments or deep in tombs. In this case, said Dr Pascal Vernus from a university in Paris, early writing was less administrative than scared. It seems that the only certainty in this field is that many questions remain to be answered.
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Questions 27-30
Choose the correct letter, A,B,C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet.
27 The researchers at the symposium regarded the story of the King of Uruk as ridiculous
because
A writing probably developed independently of speech. B clay tablets had not been invented at that time.
C the distant ruler would have spoken another language.
D evidence of writing has been discovered from an earlier period. 28 According to the writer, the story of the King of Uruk
A is a probable explanation of the origins of writing.
B proves that early writing had a different function to writing today. C provides an example of symbolic writing.
D shows some awareness amongst Sumerians of the purpose of writing. 29 There was disagreement among the researchers at the symposium about A the area where writing began.
B the nature of early writing materials. C the way writing began.
D the meaning of certain abstract images.
30 The opponents of the theory that writing developed from tokens believe that it A grew out of accountancy. B evolved from pictures.
C was initially intended as decoration.
D was unlikely to have been connected with commerce.
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Questions 31-36
Look at the following statements (questions 31-36) and the list of people below. Match each statement with the correct person, A-E
Write the correct letter, A-E, in boxes 31-36 on your answer sheet. NB You may use any letter more than once.
31 There is no proof that early writing is connected to decorated household objects. 32 As writing developed, it came to represent speech.
33 Sumerian writing developed into a means of political control
34 Early writing did not represent the grammatical features of speech. 35 There is no convincing proof that tokens and signs are connected.
36 The uses of cuneiform writing were narrow at first, and later widened.
List of people A Dr Holly Pittman B Dr Peter Damerow C Dr Denise Schmandt-Besserat D Dr Pitor Michalowski E Dr Pascal Vernus
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Questions 37-40
Complete the summary using the list of words, A-N, below.
Write the correct letter, A-N, in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet. The earliest form of writing
Most archaeological evidence shows that the people of 37 invented writing in around 3300 BC. Their script was written on 38 and was called
39 . Their script originally showed images related to political power and business, and later developed to become more40 . A cuneiform B pictorial C tomb walls D urban E legible F stone blocks G simple H Mesopotamia I abstract J papyrus sheets K decorative L clay tablets M Egypt N Uruk
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