Abstract: A computational analysis of syllabic sign values in late third and early second millennium Mesopotamia and Syria​

By Laura Hawkins, Brown University

American Oriental Society Meeting 2017
Saturday March 18th afternoon - ANE IV, Bunker Hill Room
Omni Hotel, California Plaza, 251 South Olive Street, Los Angeles

The earliest evidence of cuneiform signs being used syllabically to write Akkadian words and proper nouns comes from between 2600 BC and 2500 BC. Between ca. 2350 BC and 1800 BC, syllabic sign values use proliferates across Mesopotamia and Syria, although the usage distribution is still largely local in nature. From approximately 1800 BC, reforms in scribal practices standardize these signs and their values effectively ending major variability in the script. Therefore, almost 600 years exists, during which there is a wealth of textual data documenting the first full adaptation of the cuneiform script to syllabically write Semitic words and proper nouns.

I use computational methods to analyze holistically the distribution of syllabic value use within the cuneiform writing system during this period in order to understand if each third millennium site in Mesopotamia and Syria has its own unique syllabary, and to elucidate the primary factors that influenced the differences between these syllabaries. Individual studies of the signs attested with syllabic values among select representative corpora formed our dataset. In the analysis, three computational methods were employed: phylogenetic estimation (in PAUP*), hierarchical clustering (in R-Studio), and principal component analysis (in R-Studio). These revealed putative principal drivers behind variation in syllabic values attested in Semitic contexts within the Syrian corpora and across wider Mesopotamia.

The results strongly indicate that geographic and temporal variation were the strongest influences on sign use, and suggest that during this period cuneiform syllabaries are significantly varied, and that variation can further inform us about the regional, temporal, and dialectical contexts in which they existed. The addition of this research to the wider literature on the early adaptation of cuneiform enhances the field’s understanding of how cuneiform syllabic values began to develop and emerge across the ancient Near East.