Practice question · Put in order
Put the origin of writing in order.
- Impressions abstracted into cuneiform wedges
- Tokens impressed on the bulla’s surface before sealing
- The tokens discarded; the marks kept
- Tokens sealed inside a hollow clay bulla
- Clay tokens, one shape per commodity
Hints
- Each step solves a flaw in the one before it.
- The decisive step discards the physical tokens entirely.
Show the answer
- Clay tokens, one shape per commodity
- Tokens sealed inside a hollow clay bulla
- Tokens impressed on the bulla’s surface before sealing
- The tokens discarded; the marks kept
- Impressions abstracted into cuneiform wedges
Why
Each step solves the previous step’s flaw, and the fourth throws away the thing everyone thought was the point. The most consequential invention in human history was a filing improvement.
Practise Mesopotamia and the First States
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