Annotated Bibliography On Cuneiform

Annotated Bibliography on Cuneiform

2 Encyclopedia Articles

Mark, Joshua J. "Cuneiform." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History

Encyclopedia, 28 Apr 2011. Web. 11 Jun 2017.

Joshua J. Mark, the writer of “Cuneiform” Ancient History Encyclopedia, is a former

professor of philosophy at Marist College in New York. According to Ancient History Encyclopedia, Joshua J. Mark explained the development and history of cuneiform. He stated that cuneiform first developed by the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia in c. 3500-3000 BCE. The name “cuneiform” derived from the Latin word cuneus, which meant “wedge.” Many Mesopotamian civilizations, such as Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Elamites, Hittites, and Assyrians, utilized cuneiform until

the rise of the alphabetic script. The earliest form of cuneiform tablets was known as the proto-cuneiform, which was pictorial. These cuneiforms became a lot more simplified and the strokes of the stylus expresses word-concepts instead of word-signs. This encyclopedic article is significant as Joshua J. Mark exposes the simple and early development of cuneiform.

Puhvel, Jaan. "Cuneiform." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 25 Jan. 2017. Web. 11 June 2017.
Jaan Puhvel, an Emeritus Professor Classics and Indo-European Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, wrote about the development, decipherment, and influence of cuneiform. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Professor Jaan Puhvel elaborated how the development of cuneiform has spread through the millenniums. For instance, during the third millennium, cuneiform became more cursive and the pictographs evolved into more of linear drawings. With this, the linear strokes provided a wedge-shaped appearance on the clay to emphasized as a word-divider. In addition, the earliest form of Semitic cuneiform was the Old Akkadian in Mesopotamia. Cuneiform writing expanded and prospered throughout Mesopotamia and outside of it during the third millennium. This all started when Elam in southwestern Iran became in contact with Mesopotamian culture and decided to adopt cuneiform writing. The most significant rise of confirm was that this was one of the first inventory of ideograms and phonetic signs. They share many similarities with the writings of Egyptian, hieroglyphic Hittite, and proto-Elamite.
"Start." The Decipherment of Cuneiform [CDLI Wiki]. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 June 2017.

According to this “CDLI:kiki” of “The Decipherment of Cuneiform, this article explained the work of the scholars and how it has been discovered and use. This article specifically explained the process of the deciphering the cuneiform. For instance, there is the Danish adventurer, Carsten Niebuhr, the German schoolteacher, Georg Grotefend, and the King of Darius. The most significant person that led to the full decipherment was the British army officer named Rawlinson.

Two Web-based Museum Artifacts
"Cuneiform Tablet: Administrative Account of Barley Distribution with Cylinder Seal
Impression of a Male Figure, Hunting Dogs, and Boars | Sumerian | Jemdet Nasr | The Met." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, I.e. The Met Museum. Web. 11 June 2017.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of The Met Fifth Avenue, located in New York, contains over 5,000 years of art from many different types of cultures and time periods. One of their artifact, “Cuneiform Tablet” was an administrative account of barley distribution. This was from the Sumerian with the date from ca. 3100-2900 B.C. On this tablet, we can identify the visual work of pictographs, which is also known as proto-cuneiform. The circular impressions also represent the numerical symbols of cuneiform and the wedge-shaped tip signified as the word-dividers. The clay tablets were mainly used for recording and storing economic information. During this time, they had to keep documents of the barley that were distributed by the large temples. On this tablet, the inscribed cylinder seal impression shows the priest-king guiding two dogs and hunting boars.

"National Museum of Iraq." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 09 June 2017. Web. 11 June 2017.
"Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative." Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. National
Endowment for the Humanities. Web. 11 June 2017.
(Both of these bibliographies are related and linked to each other)
The Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI) is an international research project based at UCLA. They presented about 10,400 inscribed objects in the National Museum of Iraq collection. One of the tablet from the Iraq Museum represents the sale document for a family of eight slaves. The Uruk III (ca. 3100 BC) period tablet was excavated in the biblical city of Erech, which was the home of Gilgamesh. This reveals that these cuneiform clays represent a story and is very empowering for the community.

Cuneiform Tablets - Crystalinks. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 June 2017.
On this website, there are numerous photos and its descriptions regarding cuneiform and their clay tablets. There is information on the artifacts of Code of Hammurabi, Cylinder Seals, and the Royal Seals and what these artifacts consists of, evidently the script. Most importantly, this cite illuminated descriptions on inscribed clay tablets. They stated that the pictograms were arranged onto these clay tablets in a vertical feature and it was written with a reed stylus. However, throughout time, these pictographs and functions started to change. For instance, during the third-millennium, the writing directions were no longer written vertically, but instead, from left to right in horizontal rows, which made it easier for people to write. The importance part of this cite was that it provided useful information regarding how and what was written on these Cuneiform tablets and how it has changed from time to time.

Two Scholarly Journals
Pearce, Kristin M. "The Adaptation of Akkadian into Cuneiform." The Adaptation of Akkadian into Cuneiform. Colonial Academic Alliance Undergraduate Research Journal, 2010. Web. 11 June 2017.
Kristin M.

Pearce wrote volume 1 on the Adaptation of Akkadian into Cuneiform for Towson University. This was part of her Colonial Academic Alliance Undergraduate Research Journal. Throughout her journal, she emphasized how the Sumerians tried to adapt to Akkadian. Akkadian is one of the two languages that belonged to the East Semitic language family and one of the best to rattest Semitic languages. The earliest attest phase of Akkadian is called Old Akkadian, used around 2350 BCE. It was written in cuneiform based on the rebus principle style writing and had been used to write Semitic and non-Sumerian names for centuries. Cuneiform was a very adaptable writing system that was attested in various forms for nearly three millennia. It was created to represent the language of Sumerian and its first adaptation of the cuneiform writing system that occurred with Akkadian.

The Editors. "The World's Oldest Writing." Archaeology Magazine. The Editors, 5 Apr. 2016. Web. 11 June 2017.

The Archaeology magazine offers compelling narratives about the human past from every corner of the globe. This have have been published continuously for more than 65 years and it is a publication of the Archeological Institute of America, which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of human heritage. According to this article, the editors explained that cuneiform is the key to understanding all manner of cultural activities in ancient Near East. Explaining how cuneiform was used for many purposes, such as translating letters, recipes, laws, maps, medicine, religion, kings, and

warfare.

"Start." Cuneiform Collections [CDLI Wiki]. University of Oxford, n.d. Web. 11 June 2017.
The Cuneiform Digital Library Bulletin is an electronic journal that analyzes the 4th and third millennium documents of cuneiform. These documents consist of photographs, data, and drawings. Also, this electronic journal mentions the early age of writing, paleography, administrative history, mathematics, metrology, and the technology of modern cuneiform editing are welcome, articles in the Bulletin.

2011:1, Cuneiform Digital Library Journal, and Kevin J. Cathcart. The Earliest Contributions to the Decipherment of Sumerian and Akkadian (n.d.): n. page. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative, 3 Mar. 2011. Web. 11 June 2017.
Kevin J. Cathcart is an Emeritus Professor in Dublin at the Campion Hall of Oxford. He wrote an article based on the decipherment of Sumerian and Akkadian, which is in relation to the decipherment of cuneiform. According to The Earliest Contributions to the Decipherment of Sumerians and Akkadian, Kevin J. Cathcart elaborates on the topics of the process of how the decipherment occurred and the relevance of the scholars that contributed to this writing system. Some very interesting facts was the quotes that were specifically spoken by the scholars and their ideal viewpoint on the decipherment.

Smoak, Jeremy, Lecture notes Week 2, ASIANM20, April 2017, June 11, 2016
I provided some information that was written on the power-point during lecture. The lectures were articulated and presented by the professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. This lecture was based on “The Study of Writing M20” course. These power-points assisted me in the way of understanding how to decipher cuneiform and the important details of it. For instance, there are the artifacts of cuneiform and how there are rebus principles in their writing system, such as “lugal” that represents “king.”

Robinson, Andrew. The Story of Writing:. London: Thames & Hudson, 2009. Print.
Many of my essay consisted of Robinson’s book, “The Story of Writing, which reveals the decipherment of cuneiform. He gave a general overview on the importance of cuneiform and how this system have been established by elaborating on the matters of the first success of deciphering and the location where it was established “Ancient Mesopotamia.”