In the final centuries before the emergence of writing, communities in southern Mesopotamia used small fired-clay tokens of standardized shapes to represent quantities of goods such as grain, oil, and livestock. These tokens were sometimes sealed inside hollow clay envelopes called bullae, functioning as portable records of economic transactions and obligations. Many researchers view this token system as a direct precursor to the proto-cuneiform numerical and pictographic signs that appeared on clay tablets at Uruk by around 3300 BCE, linking early accounting practices to the origins of writing itself.
Relevance to Trade History
Represents one of the clearest archaeological links between early record-keeping, trade administration, and the eventual invention of writing.
Read the full story in our article How Early Communities Exchanged Goods Before Currency.
Source: Oriental Institute, University of Chicago. See our Sources & Methodology page for how we select and verify references.