Bead by Bead

This is a poem based on a thought experiment about a 14,000-year-old beaded necklace that may have been the first calendar-calculator-notepad ... a prehistoric iPad!

BEAD BY BEAD

Bead by bead,
I count my lovers' moons ...
Moon by moon, 
I await my children. Soon ...

My poem is based on the following "thought experiment."

MY THEORY OF THE EVOLUTION OF WRITING, WITH A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT
by Michael R. Burch

The earliest known drawing, circa 70,000 BC, was found at Blombos, South Africa. The drawing, made with a red ocher crayon, looks like a # hashtag! Very curiously, researchers have identified 32 common geometric symbols used in 52 different caves around the world. The symbols seem to have significance and may be the earliest form of writing. Our ancestors went to great lengths to create the symbols, but unfortunately we do not understand what they represent. “This capacity goes back at least 100,000 years,” says Francesco d’Errico of the University of Bordeaux, France. The Altamira Cave cave paintings, circa 39,000 BC, may be the earth's oldest paintings and the earliest carbon-dated examples of human figurative art. Skipping rapidly forward in time, researcher Genevieve von Petzinger determined that symbols she had found on numerous cave walls were being combined on necklaces, circa 14,000 BC, found at the French village of Les Eyzies-de-Tayac. The necklaces, discovered with the body of a young woman, had beads made from ancient deer teeth. The beads were etched with symbols: different combinations of straight lines, an X, and an asterisk formed by running a straight line through an X. Von Petzinger believes this combination of symbols is the evolution of some form of human code. If so, over time the code could have further evolved into more complex cuneiform script and hieroglyphics. But if there is a code, no one has been able to crack it so far. That is, at least, until I took a whack at it ...

This is speculation on my part, but let’s assume a straight horizontal line was used for counting, with one line representing the number one, two lines representing two, and so on. Now let’s assume an X represents two people mating, while an asterisk formed by adding a straight horizontal line represents "adding" a baby (this is wild speculation for purposes of example). Three straight lines and an X could represent a woman's third mate. The beads could then be used to keep track of when a woman had sex with a certain partner and when she became pregnant. Perhaps nine different beads represented nine moons or nine menstrual cycles. One new bead might be added each new month or cycle, with the oldest bead being discarded when it no longer fit. If a woman had two or more partners, she could keep track of whose children she might potentially be bearing. Again, this is speculation. But it might have been very important for a pregnant woman to know whose child she was carrying, men being inclined to prefer their own children to those fathered by other men.

The evolution of writing includes other important milestones. Inscriptions cut in stone on Fourth Dynasty tombs of Giza and the Second Dynasty tablet of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford date to around 4200 BC. Symbols on Gerzean (Egyptian) pottery, circa 3800 BC, have been compared to later hieroglyphics, although the connection is disputed. The Kish Tablet, circa 3250 BC, may be the oldest extant example of Sumerian proto-cuneiform (i.e., pictographic) writing. Early Egyptian hieroglyphics date to around this time. A Seth-Peribsen tomb seal, circa 2690 BC, has the first known complete sentence: "The golden one of Ombos has unified the two realms for his son ... Peribsen." The Sumerian Kesh Temple Hymns and Instructions of Šuruppak, circa 2500 BC, may be the earth's oldest surviving literature. The Egyptian Tale of a Shipwrecked Sailor has also been dated to around this time. Thus we may consider 2500 BC as the approximate beginning point of literature and songwriting. But there does seem to be the possibility, at least, of some form of communication that goes back at least 70,000 years, and perhaps 100,000 or more. If the 32 common cave symbols have meaning, the use of symbols could have expanded over time into more complex forms of writing like cuneiform and hieroglyphics.

It may be impossible to crack the earliest code. But my little thought experiment seems intriguing to me. A bead might represent a moon or menstrual cycle. The easiest symbol to draw, a straight line, might be used for simple counting �" something I use nearly every day myself, although I prefer vertical lines. But a vertical line might have been assigned another meaning, like "myself." In any case, what would a young woman be most concerned about, calendar-wise and mathematically? If she had more than one mate, keeping track of when she had sex, and with whom, might have been very important, men being as they are. Perhaps mate swapping was only allowed when a woman was infertile, to help establish paternity. Our ancestors may not have been as prudish about monogamy as we are. If similar necklaces with the same symbols are found only with the bodies of females, that might be a big clue. Of course I am only an amateur (and some experts might consider me rank), but we may have to consider what was most important to our ancient ancestors if we want to crack the code. Was the beaded necklace, perhaps, an early calculator, calendar, and note-taking system? If so, we will have to bow to the genius of the caveman �" or, more correctly �" the cavewoman! If I'm correct, some enterprising young cavewoman created an early iPad: a combination of calendar, calculator and note-taking system. And she did it with a few beads, something to twine them on, and an etching tool.