Gender, age, and labour organization in the earliest texts from Mesopotamia and Iran (c. 3300-2900 BC)
Clay tablets in the Proto-cuneiform script (c. 3300-3000 BC) of ancient Iraq and the Proto-Elamite script (c. 3100-2900 BC) of ancient Iran represent two of the earliest inventions of writing in the world - both of which are only partially deciphered. The separate scripts share only a few signs between them, including signs representing 'man', 'woman' and 'child' in administrative contexts. However, there are significant differences in the use patterns of these shared signs, which have not previously been commented upon or explored. Building on recent advances in text accessibility and decipherment, this dissertation takes a top-down approach, delineating all the uses of the key gender and age signs to reveal to what extent their meanings were comparable between the scripts. The results highlight how social and economic roles overlapped with gender identities in the minds of the scribes who were devising signs to represent humans. They also show that proto-cuneiform scribes devised broader, more flexible applications for the signs studied here than the proto-Elamite scribes found for the equivalent set, hinting at differences in the nature and development of the two scripts. The dissertation defines a number
Kelley, Kathryn
Gender, age, and labour organization in the earliest texts from Mesopotamia and Iran (c. 3300-2900 BC). Clay tablets in the Proto-cuneiform script (c. 3300-3000 BC) of ancient Iraq and the Proto-Elamite script (c. 3100-2900 BC) of ancient Iran represent two of the earliest inventions of writing in the world - both of which are only partially deciphered. The separate scripts share only a few signs between them, including signs representing 'man', 'woman' and 'child' in administrative contexts. However, there are significant differences in the use patterns of these shared signs, which have not previously been commented upon or explored. Building on recent advances in text accessibility and decipherment, this dissertation takes a top-down approach, delineating all the uses of the key gender and age signs to reveal to what extent their meanings were comparable between the scripts. The results highlight how social and economic roles overlapped with gender identities in the minds of the scribes who were devising signs to represent humans. They also show that proto-cuneiform scribes devised broader, more flexible applications for the signs studied here than the proto-Elamite scribes found for the equivalent set, hinting at differences in the nature and development of the two scripts. The dissertation defines a number
gender_age labour organization early text mesopotamia iran clay proto cuneiform script ancient iraq proto script ancient iran represent early invention write world partially decipher separate script share sign include sign represent man woman_child administrative context however significant_difference use pattern share sign previously comment upon explore building recent_advance text accessibility decipherment take top_down delineate key gender_age sign reveal extent meaning comparable script highlight social_economic role overlap gender_identity mind devise sign represent human also_show proto cuneiform scribe devise broad flexible application sign study proto scribe find equivalent set hint difference nature development script defines number