PT146.S4.P3.Q17

PrepTest 146 - Section 4 - Passage 3 - Question 17

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P1

Hundreds of clay tablets marked in cuneiform have been found in excavations of the Sumerian city of Uruk (in present-day Iraq). Though the tablets date from roughly 3000 B.C., the writing on them uses relatively few pictographs; instead, numerous abstract symbols are used. The sign for “sheep,” for example, is not an image of a sheep, but rather a circled cross, while the sign for “metal” is a crescent with five lines. Because of its early date, this seemingly sudden appearance of such abstract writing has long puzzled researchers. …

Phenomenon · Very old clay tablets with abstract writing
This is puzzling. Given how old these tablets are, researchers expected to find pictographs instead of abstract writing.
At the same time, among prepottery clay artifacts found at archaeological sites along the Jordan and nearby rivers are thousands of small, hand-modeled tokens of fired clay, some dating to before 4000 B.C. Often ignored by archaeologists—some concluded without evidence that they were amulets or game pieces—the tokens are identified by Denise Schmandt-Besserat in her book Before Writing (1992) as overlooked predecessors to the written word.

Phenomenon · Even older clay tokens
DSB believes these are the predecessors to writing. Not sure how these clay tokens will relate back to the clay tablets. But it probably will, so just read on...
P2

The earliest of the tokens were simple in form—small cones, spheres, and pyramids—and they were often inscribed. In 1966, a hollow tablet containing several of these tokens was discovered, and more than 100 additional tablets, which are now recognized as sealed envelopes of clay, have since been found. Later envelopes are also inscribed with impressions of tokens in the outer clay, signaling exactly what each envelope contained. …

Details of Phenomena · Tokens and tablets
Earliest tokens are geometric shapes. Later, researchers found hollow tablets that contained tokens inside them. Researchers believe the tablets are actually envelopes meant to hold the tokens. Later, the envelopes (tablets) were inscribed to signal what tokens were contained inside.
Noting that these inscriptions are clearly traceable to later, known inscriptions of farm products, Schmandt-Besserat theorizes that the envelopes contained official records of villagers’ contributions to temple-based grain and livestock pools. …
DSB Hypothesis · Envelopes were records of villager's contributions
After 4000 B.C., hundreds of new token forms developed, as a rise in industry boosted the token system. Many forms are figurative, such as bowls or jars with handles, suggesting that villagers’ crafts were becoming more diversified and sophisticated.

Details of Phenomenon · Hundreds of new token forms developed
Suggesting that villagers' crafts were diversifying
P3

The token system, essentially a system of three-dimensional nouns, was replaced in about 3100 B.C. by a system of marks on clay tablets. A few centuries later, this latter system was to display the first use of numerals, where simple marks coded the concepts of one, two, and so forth. The eventual evolution of this system into mature writing, Schmandt-Besserat suggests, can be seen in the following example: At first it took two ovoid tokens to record two jars of oil. A little later, it took two markings on a clay tablet to achieve this—one mark, using the outline of the old token, to record the customary unit measure for oil, the jarful, and a second mark to convey the numeral: two oil jars. Eventually, it took three signs on the tablet, one for the numeral 2, one for the standard jarful, and a new symbol that denoted oil itself. With three such signs, an abstract and flexible written form had arrived.

DSB Hypothesis · Token system evolved into abstract writing
Initially, the tokens physically represented the objects: two tokens to represent two jars of oil. Then, evolved to two marks on the clay envelope: one mark for the numeral 2, another for the concept of jar of oil. Finally, writing evolved to three marks: one mark for the numeral 2, another for the concept of jar, a third for the concept of oil.
Passage Style
Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)
Single position
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17.

The passage states that the writing on clay tablets found in Uruk

a

was not deciphered by archaeologists until 1992

Not stated. We know Schmandt-Besserat published her book in 1992. That doesn’t mean nobody had deciphered the clay tablets from Uruk before that year.

1%
b

used relatively few pictographic symbols

Stated.

87%
c

eventually evolved into a more abstract and flexible linguistic system

Not stated about the tablets from Uruk. This is what Schmandt-Besserat believes about the tokens.

8%
d

transcribed a language that was commonly spoken along the Jordan and nearby rivers

Not stated. The reference in the passage to the Jordan and nearby rivers relates to the clay tokens, not the tablets from Uruk.

1%
e

transcribed a language that was much older than archaeologists would have expected

Not stated. Although the passage states that researchers were “puzzled” by the “seemingly sudden appearance of such abstract writing” on the tablets, that doesn’t indicate that archaeologists wouldn’t have expected writing to appear such a long time ago. The issue is the suddenness of its appearance, not how long ago the writing appeared.

3%

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