0:00:00.000,0:00:04.471
It is referred to as the cushion clay[br]tablet and it is believed to have been

0:00:04.471,0:00:13.318
made around 2600 BC. This tablet[br]shows the details of the transaction

0:00:13.318,0:00:20.824
of grains. The upper part means[br]135,000 liters.

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This is the item in question: barley.[br]They drew it as it is.

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The left side represents the terms[br]of the transaction. It says 37 months.

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This tablet is a record that somebody[br]lent or borrowed 135,000 liters of

0:00:36.653,0:00:45.307
barley for a period of 37 months. [br]What, then, do these symbols mean?

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According to research, the sound represented[br]by these symbols is coushem.

0:00:50.237,0:00:52.899
Unlike the other symbols found on [br]these ancient relics, the meaning

0:00:52.899,0:00:57.510
of these are a mystery.

0:00:57.510,0:01:02.868
The two signs in these early tablets,[br]coushem, are puzzling because

0:01:02.868,0:01:05.078
they don't mean anything.

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Um, these two signs individually[br]each have a meaning but together

0:01:09.031,0:01:11.144
they don't seem to mean anything.

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And so, it's been suggested quite[br]plausibly that this is somebody's name.

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That somebody wrote these two signs[br]because the name sounded the same way.

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A coom sign meaning something, and a shim sign[br]meaning something else but together

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just somebody's name.

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The phonetic symbols coo and shim[br]came together to form cooshim,

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a symbol that represents a sound. [br]This marked the beginning of salavak writing.

0:01:38.045,0:01:45.766
It was the birth of rebus writing system.[br]A single example of rebus can be found

0:01:45.766,0:01:49.327
using a car and a cat. This representation,

0:01:49.327,0:01:53.392
however, does not mean a car and a cat.[br]The sounds of the words represented

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by these pictographs, car and pet, could[br]be used to mean something completely

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different. In this case, carpet. [br]These symbols, meaningless by

0:02:05.235,0:02:11.054
themselves, come together to form a word.[br]This type of writing system is known a rebus,

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a representation of words in the form[br]of pictures or symbols.

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In the modern era this concept [br]is seen as quite simple and basic

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but for people in ancient times the [br]adoption of a rebus writing system

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was a truly revolutionary development.

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With the adoption of more complex rebuses,[br]the number of cuneiforms ranged from

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about 1500 to about 600. The previously [br]complicated pictures became simpler.

0:02:53.950,0:02:57.890
More advanced forms of cuneiform[br]were found in relics north of Moor.

0:02:57.890,0:03:01.972
The most famous among them were [br]from the poor.