Archaeological Tokens

The Invention of Tokens, in Antonino Crisa, Mairi Gkikaki, and Clare Rowan, eds., TOKENS, CULTURE, CONNECTIONS, COMMUNITIES, Royal Numismatic Society, Special Publication No 51, 2019.
The Invention of TokensDownload the PDF (6 MB)

Tokens: their Significance for the Origin of Counting and Writing
TokensDownload the PDF (1.2 MB)

Token, in Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatishen Archaeologie, De Gruyter, 2014. p. 87-89.
Token in Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatishen ArchaeologieDownload the PDF (859 KB)

Tokens and Writing

The Evolution of Writing,  in James Wright, ed., INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES, Elsevier, 2014
The Evolution of Writing Download the PDF (1.4 MB)

Signs of Life
Archaeology Odyssey, 2002

From Accounting to Writing
From Accounting to Writing Download the PDF (127 KB)

Tokens and Counting

From Counting to Writing: The Quest for Abstraction, in Zoltan Csbai, ed., Studies in Social and Economic History of the Near East, in Memory of Peter Vargyas, The University of Pecs, l’Harmattan Budapest, 2014, p. 227-238.
From Counting to Writing: The Quest for Abstraction, in Zoltan Csbai Download the PDF (2.1 MB)

The Token System of the ancient Near East: Its role in counting, writing, the economy and cognition, in Iain Morley and Colin Renfrew, eds., Archaeology of Measurement, Cambridge University Press, 2010.
The Token System of the ancient Near East: Its role in counting, writing, the economy and cognition Download the PDF (1.8 MB)

Oneness, Twoness, Threeness, How Ancient Accountants Invented NumbersThe Sciences, 1987
Oneness, Twoness, Threeness, How Ancient Accountants Invented Numbers Download the PDF (1.8 MB)

Tokens, Writing and Cognition

Tokens and Writing: the Cognitive Development, in Symbols at ‘Ain Ghazal, ‘Ain Ghazal Excavation Reports Vol. 3, Ex Oriente, The Free University Press, Berlin. Germany, 2013.
Tokens and Writing: the Cognitive Development Download the PDF (548 KB)

The Token System of the ancient Near East: Its role in counting, writing, the economy and cognition, in Iain Morley and Colin Renfrew, eds., Archaeology of Measurement, Cambridge University Press, 2010.
The Token System of the ancient Near East: Its role in counting, writing, the economy and cognition Download the PDF (1.8 MB)

Tokens for Archaeologists

Making Tokens Talk
With Niloufar Moghimi, “Making Tokens Talk” in Anna Margherita Jasink, Judith Weingarten and Silvia Ferrara, eds., Non-Scribal Communication Media in the Bronze Age Aegean and Surrounding Areas, Firenze University Press, Firenze, 2017, p. 175-183.
TokensDownload the PDF (852 KB)

Tokens: Facts and InterpretationVisible Language, Vol. XX, No 3, 1986, p. 250-272.
Tokens: Facts and InterpretationDownload the PDF (1.8 MB)

Tokens in Elam and Beyond the Near East

Prehistoric Administrative Technologies and the Ancient Near Eastern Redistribution Economy – The case of greater Susiana, in Javier Alvarez-Mon, Gian Pietro Basello, and Yasmina Wicks, The Elamite World, Routledge, London 2018.
Prehistoric Administrative Technologies and the Ancient Near Eastern Redistribution Economy – The case of greater Susiana Download the PDF (2.9MB)

Tokens in China, Europe and Africa – The Significance – Scripta vol 4, 2012, p. 1-12.
Tokens in China, Europe and Africa – The significance Download the PDF (127 KB)

The Beginning and the Future

How Writing Came to Replace Spoken Language, 3000-2600 BCE. In Kuang Yu Chen, Dietrich Tschanz, and Chang-I Tu, eds., Dialogue of Four Pristine Writing Systems, Confusius Institute of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 2019, p. 1-17.
How writing came to replace spoken languageDownload the PDF (3 MB)

“The Future of Text” in Frode Hegland, ed. The Future of Text, The Augmented Text Company LTD, UK, 11.20.2020.
http://futureoftext.org/2020-vision-book.html


Articles on Tokens in Different Languages

The Austinite who discovered the origins of writing
Link to the Michael Barnes article on Austin American Statesman
Video Extra from Austin American Statesman Article

Watch on YouTube

Research on Tokens by Other Scholars

Major Additions to the 1992 Token Catalogue in Denise Schmandt-Besserat’s Before Writing, Vol. 2

Page last updated: 10/23/21