Is accounting older than writing? The story of clay tokens in Mesopotamia

Here is a curious question: did humanity first learn to write and then begin keeping accounts? Or the other way round: did the need to keep accounts force people to write?

According to a widely known theory put forward by the archaeologist Denise Schmandt-Besserat, the answer is the second one. That is, cuneiform, one of the oldest writing systems in the world, grew out of accounting. Not all scholars fully accept this theory, but it explains very well how ancient accounting worked.

What did the little pieces of clay "write"?

In Lower Mesopotamia (the territory of present-day Iraq), archaeologists have found a great many small clay objects of distinctive shapes. According to Britannica, a rather complex set of them dates to about 3500 BC, that is, to the period when cities were beginning to emerge.

The theory is simple: each shape stood for a particular product. One shape was used for grain, another for a sheep or a goat. The small pieces of clay (tokens) were in effect units of account: as many tokens, so many products.

According to the sources, such tokens appear much earlier, from about 8000 BC, and they came in shapes such as cones, spheres, disks and cylinders.

Let us picture this more vividly (the author's example). A shepherd is taking his master's 25 sheep to the pasture. The two of them count the sheep and put 25 "sheep tokens" together in one place. In autumn, when the shepherd returns, the tokens are counted again: if the number of sheep equals the number of tokens, the account is in order.

Why did the tokens inside the envelope become unnecessary?

So that the tokens would not be lost or swapped, they were placed inside a clay envelope (a hollow clay ball) and sealed. But it was impossible to know what was inside without breaking the envelope.

Then a solution was found: before each token was put into the envelope, it was pressed onto the envelope's surface, leaving an impression. Now, looking from the outside, one could see how many tokens and of what kind were inside.

The next step came naturally: if the impression tells you everything, why do you need the token itself? According to the theory, the tokens gradually dropped out, and only signs began to be made on a flat clay tablet. It was these signs that later turned into writing.

One important note: in the excavations at Ziyaret Tepe in Turkey, tokens were found together with cuneiform tablets in the same administrative building. So even after writing appeared, tokens did not disappear at once; for a while they were used side by side.

What does this history give today's accountant?

The interesting thing is that the ideas behind the clay envelope still work today; only the tools have changed.

Aspect	Then (the era of clay tokens)	Now
What is counted	Grain, sheep, goats	Goods, money, fixed assets, debts
Unit of account	One token = one unit of a product	Quantity and monetary measure
Means of recording	A token, later a clay tablet	Accounting software, electronic documents
Making the record unalterable	A sealed clay envelope	Electronic digital signature
Checking	Breaking the envelope and counting the tokens	Inventory count: counting the balance on site

Note the last row. "Counting the sheep in autumn" in the shepherd example is exactly today's inventory count. For instance, at the "Bog'bon" farm (hypothetical), the software shows 240 head of sheep. If at the end of the year a count in the fold gives 236 head, the reason for the difference of 4 head is investigated. The question is the same as five thousand years ago: do the records match reality?

Conclusion: accounting is not an "extra job" that appeared after writing. According to the theory, it was precisely the need to count and to keep accounts that led humanity to writing.