Was that
Denise Schmandt-Besserat, Before Writing, University of Texas Press, 1992,
2 vols (of which the 2nd vol is a catalogue on Mesopotamian clay tokens)
which is a detailed study of how writing evolved in Mesopotamia in the late
4th millenium from an accounting system based on small clay tokens. These
then became to be held in hollow clay balls on the outside of which the
contents then became to be impressed -- at which time the tokens themselves
became redundent, needing only the impressed marks: writing.
It looks like the best documented instance of what seems to be a general
trend, that written systems first evolve for the purpose of accounting and
legal contracts, and it is only later that the writers start using it in
other contexts. A similar instance is Linear B, and surely also Linear A
where I believe that the only two securely translated signs are for 'total'
and 'subtotal'!
Another such thing has happened with computers, which were first developed
for military and scientific calculations, then used for commerce and
accounting, and then came to be used for word processing.
The celebrated notched bone is just that: a bone with groups of notches on
it, dated ? (c.5000BC?), found by Lake Khasanga (spelling?). Beyond that,
it is speculation. Does anyone know of a good scholarly publication, giving
details of the latest state of play?
David Fowler