Fwd ;The illiterate Harappans/Mnemonics(was : Script and non scriptsof IVC)

[Guest guest]

Indo-Eurasian_research , Sudha Shenoy

<sudha.shenoy wrote:

 

 

Some thoughts on when mnemonics seem to work & when not:

 

1. Transmitting texts (including genealogies) is akin to _copying_ MSS.

(With new/modified compositions the process is still the same: passing

something on, intact & unchanged.) Mnemonics work quite well.

 

2. Commercial/managerial information is 'operational' -- something

probably has to be done, & at least two people are involved. Eg: the

kinds of items found in the Mesopotamian material: 'please buy/sell

these quantities of the following commodities at such- & -such a

price/prices' -- from merchant to partner/agent. Or: 'This much raw

wool was taken in & thus many garments of these qualities were woven';

(overseer ) such information is needed to see if the workshop is/is not

working satisfactorily. Or: 'There are such- & -such stocks of these types

of garments/commodities' (administrator/merchant.) -- The size of stocks

or the goods may have to be varied. Such information (by its nature)

also _changes_. -- With contracts: the agreed terms are needed to see

if the contract has been fulfilled. -- Thus writing/notation are vital.

 

3. The scale of the operation. For instance, a clothier in 18th century

Gloucestershire was virtually illiterate. But his operation was

relatively small-scale. Not so with Wedgwood. His factory had very large

quantities of materials of all kinds coming in. Operations were highly

sub-divided: eg, some workers did nothing but paint specific decorations

on various items. Outputs & stocks were very high for the time. As he

suffered losses, theft & chicanery, Wedgwood was obliged to devise new

accounting/costing methods to keep track of the flow of operations.

 

4. Time-scale. Our illiterate Rabari milkman & Gloucestershire clothier

had to remember only a single accounting/billing period. For longer time

periods, some sort of notation becomes essential. Mesopotamian materials

contain some of the earliest mercantile calculations of changes in

capital value over longish periods of time.

 

 

Sudha R. Shenoy

Hon'y Associate in Economic History

School of Policy

University of Newcastle

Callaghan NSW 2308

Australia

 

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