Archaeology of accounting and Schmandt-Besserat's contribution

The publication of Denise Schmandt-Besserat's book Before Writing (1992, vols I and II) is the occasion for first reviewing her archaeological work (see Part I), and then interpreting and commenting on it from an accountant's point of view, emphasizing further evidence that a kind of double entry recording existed 5,000 years ago (see Part II). Schmandt-Besserat recognized that ‘tokens’ (small clay counters) constitute an accounting system, widely used in the Near East from about 8,000 BC to 3,000 BC, that existed for five millennia. She also drew parallels between the shapes of the tokens and those of the first signs of writing, establishing accounting as the prerequisite and impetus to writing and abstract counting. A third part offers (in addition to the notes for Parts I and II) a summary of the ‘Stages in the Evolution of Accounting and Symbolic Representation in the Prehistoric Middle East’ (Appendix A) and of ‘Major Steps and Publications Toward an Archaeology of Accounting’ (Appendix B), as well a...