Sealed clay bulla with tokens
Bulla sellada con fichas contables
- Date
- c. 3500 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Susa, Elam, Iran, and Uruk, Iraq
- Credited to
- Uruk and Susa cultures
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A hollow clay ball enclosing geometric tokens representing goods, marked on the outside with the impression of the tokens and a seal. The intermediate step between counting with objects and numerical writing on a tablet.
Denise Schmandt-Besserat's theory of token-bulla-tablet evolution is influential but disputed in its chronological details.
What it led to
- The convention that a mark in clay equals a quantity of a good, the conceptual basis of writing
- Verifiable contracts between distant parties without personal trust
- Separation of number from the object counted, the seed of numerical abstraction
Built on
- Neolithic clay tokens
- Stamped seal