The evolution of counting is explored through extensive research, revealing how different societies approached the concept of numbers and developed their counting systems. The book delves into the origins of numerical concepts and the creation of the modern decimal system, making it an engaging and educational resource for children. It highlights the significance of counting as one of humanity's essential inventions, earning recognition with the 00-01 Utah Book Award for Informational Books.
'When Writing Met Art' is a groundbreaking investigation into how ancient Near Eastern writing and art co-evolved, thereby multiplying the human capacity to communicate
Top 100 Books on Science, American Scientist, 2001 In 1992, the University of Texas Press published Before Writing, Volume From Counting to Cuneiform and Before Writing, Volume A Catalog of Near Eastern Tokens. In these two volumes, Denise Schmandt-Besserat set forth her groundbreaking theory that the cuneiform script invented in the Near East in the late fourth millennium B.C.—the world's oldest known system of writing—derived from an archaic counting device. How Writing Came About draws material from both volumes to present Schmandt-Besserat's theory for a wide public and classroom audience. Based on the analysis and interpretation of a selection of 8,000 tokens or counters from 116 sites in Iran, Iraq, the Levant, and Turkey, it documents the immediate precursor of the cuneiform script.
The town of et#x02bb;Ain Ghazal / Gary O. Rollefson and Zeiden A. Kafafi -- Token finds at pre-pottery Neolithic et#x02bb;Ain Ghazal : a formal and technological analysis / Harry Iceland -- Tokens and writing : the cognitive development / Denise Schmandt-Besserat -- Animal figurines : the et#x02bb;Ain Ghazal zoomorphic assemblage / Denise Schmandt-Besserat -- The human clay figurines and ancient Near Eastern magic : the human clay figurines collection / Denise Schmandt-Besserat -- A stone metaphor of creation / Denise Schmandt-Besserat -- Three plaster faces / Carol A. Grissom and Patricia S. Griffin -- The plastered skulls / Denise Schmandt-Besserat -- Statue cache 2 / Carol A. Grissom -- et#x02bb;Ain Ghazal "monumental" figures : a sylistic analysis / Denise Schmandt-Besserat -- Murals and floor paintings at et#x02bb;Ain Ghazal / Denise Schmandt-Besserat -- Standing stones of the Neolithic village of et#x02bb;Ain Ghazal / Zeidan A. Kafafi -- Neolithic symbolism at et#x02bb;Ain Ghazal : the archaeological assemblage / Denise Schmandt-Besserat