Mnemonic Device List
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{ "count": 243, "next": "https://seshat-db.com/api/sc/mnemonic-devices/?format=api&page=5", "previous": "https://seshat-db.com/api/sc/mnemonic-devices/?format=api&page=3", "results": [ { "id": 151, "polity": { "id": 81, "name": "pe_cuzco_5", "long_name": "Cuzco - Late Intermediate I", "start_year": 1000, "end_year": 1250 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " \"The khipu is most often associated with Inca accounting, but it was borrowed from Andean traditions that were developed at least a thousand years before the Incas. Some scholars think that the earliest systematic use of the khipu as a recording tool occurred in Wari or other expansionist states. It may owe its genesis to institutional demands, such as keeping track of supplies (Quilter and Urton 2002; Brokaw 2010). If they are right, then the Incas elaborated a package of administrative techniques developed by their imperial predecessors. It is certainly the case that the tool was well established across the Andes before the Inca empire came along, as different societies reportedly used a variety of knot-tying conventions. The chronicler Murua wrote that, “each province, as it had its own language, also had a different form and logic [razón] of quipo” (translation from Platt 2002: 229). In short, the Incas’ challenge most likely lay in systematizing recording for state institutions and in bringing many thousands of knot-masters up to speed in the preferred format, not in developing a specific inscription technique for state interests from scratch.\" §REF§(D'Altroy 2014, 150)§REF§ According to Alan Covey: \"We should not assume that Wari used khipus, as none have been found. The “Wari” khipus that Urton reports from the AMNH are from poorly known coastal provenances, and Wari never really ruled over the coast. The Middle Horizon dates suggest that someone on the coast was using a khipu-like device, but it is a stretch to say that this was an imperial accounting device invented or used by Wari, and there is no evidence for Wari khipus in excavations of well-preserved Wari sites that have yielded abundant textile remains. I would also not infer their use in the LIP (AD 1000-1400)\" §REF§(Alan Covey 2015, personal communication)§REF§" }, { "id": 152, "polity": { "id": 77, "name": "pe_cuzco_1", "long_name": "Cuzco - Late Formative", "start_year": -500, "end_year": 200 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 153, "polity": { "id": 83, "name": "pe_inca_emp", "long_name": "Inca Empire", "start_year": 1375, "end_year": 1532 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "present", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 154, "polity": { "id": 445, "name": "pg_orokaiva_pre_colonial", "long_name": "Orokaiva - Pre-Colonial", "start_year": 1734, "end_year": 1883 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "present", "comment": null, "description": " SCCS variable 149 'Writing and Records' is coded as ‘1’ or ‘None’, not ‘Mnemonic devices’, or ‘Nonwritten records’, or 'True writing, no records', or ‘True writing; records’ Tokens called heratu served multiple purposes: 'There is another use similar in principle. When a hungry man sees a ripe bunch of bananas in the garden of his friend he will not hesitate to help himself. It is to be feared that he would not hesitate over long if he met-the same temptation in the garden of a stranger. In the first instance, however, he will eat his fill of the bananas, or whatever it may be, and leave his heratu. When the owner comes to his garden and sees this, he will be satisfied, for no native grudges food to his friend.' §REF§Williams, F. E. (Francis Edgar), and Hubert Murray 1930. “Orokaiva Society”, 115§REF§ 'Of the three main uses of the heratu previously described, viz. (1) as an identity token, (2) as a mark of individual abstinence, (3) as the naterari, or village tabu post, the last will seem tolerably clear. The naterari stands as a symbol of the dead man in whose behalf the tabu is imposed. Formerly it may have been something more than a formal symbol of the dead, in fact a crude image. This association between the wooden post and the dead man which it represents is strengthened by using his particular namesake tree: then, besides other associations, the two have this important bond between them-a common name.' §REF§Williams, F. E. (Francis Edgar), and Hubert Murray 1930. “Orokaiva Society”, 125§REF§" }, { "id": 155, "polity": { "id": 446, "name": "pg_orokaiva_colonial", "long_name": "Orokaiva - Colonial", "start_year": 1884, "end_year": 1942 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "present", "comment": null, "description": " SCCS variable 149 'Writing and Records' is coded as ‘1’ or ‘None’, not ‘Mnemonic devices’, or ‘Nonwritten records’, or 'True writing, no records', or ‘True writing; records’ Tokens called heratu served multiple purposes: 'There is another use similar in principle. When a hungry man sees a ripe bunch of bananas in the garden of his friend he will not hesitate to help himself. It is to be feared that he would not hesitate over long if he met-the same temptation in the garden of a stranger. In the first instance, however, he will eat his fill of the bananas, or whatever it may be, and leave his heratu. When the owner comes to his garden and sees this, he will be satisfied, for no native grudges food to his friend.' §REF§Williams, F. E. (Francis Edgar), and Hubert Murray 1930. “Orokaiva Society”, 115§REF§ 'Of the three main uses of the heratu previously described, viz. (1) as an identity token, (2) as a mark of individual abstinence, (3) as the naterari, or village tabu post, the last will seem tolerably clear. The naterari stands as a symbol of the dead man in whose behalf the tabu is imposed. Formerly it may have been something more than a formal symbol of the dead, in fact a crude image. This association between the wooden post and the dead man which it represents is strengthened by using his particular namesake tree: then, besides other associations, the two have this important bond between them-a common name.' §REF§Williams, F. E. (Francis Edgar), and Hubert Murray 1930. “Orokaiva Society”, 125§REF§ The Constabulary relied on sticks and other ad hoc devices for the purpose of record-keeping: 'The producer's half of the income from the coffee was paid, not on delivery, but at the end of each year. The official in charge of the scheme visited each village to make the payments. The ordinance required that payment was to be made in proportion to days worked and, as the village constable who was in charge of the plantation was almost invariably illiterate, some of them kept an “attendance stick” for each man. A notch was cut in the stick for each day of absence other than that caused by illness or the death of a close relative. When the government officer visited the village to make the payments the constable produced the attendance stick of each man as he came up for payment. Some constables relied on memory to inform government officers of absentees, but the few literate ones (e. g. at Sombo) were provided with attendance books.' §REF§Crocombe, R. G. 1964. “Communal Cash Cropping Among The Orokaiva”, 15§REF§" }, { "id": 156, "polity": { "id": 117, "name": "pk_kachi_enl", "long_name": "Kachi Plain - Aceramic Neolithic", "start_year": -7500, "end_year": -5500 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "Possehl states that there was no writing before the urban phase in the Indus valley §REF§Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 51.§REF§, and it is unclear whether mnemonic devices were in use instead." }, { "id": 157, "polity": { "id": 118, "name": "pk_kachi_lnl", "long_name": "Kachi Plain - Ceramic Neolithic", "start_year": -5500, "end_year": -4000 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "Possehl states that there was no writing before the urban phase in the Indus valley. §REF§Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 51.§REF§" }, { "id": 158, "polity": { "id": 119, "name": "pk_kachi_ca", "long_name": "Kachi Plain - Chalcolithic", "start_year": -4000, "end_year": -3200 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "Possehl states that there was no writing before the urban phase in the Indus valley. §REF§Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 51.§REF§ While seals have been found in Mehrgarh III layers, these show no evidence of script or writing.§REF§, C. A. (in press) Chapter 11, Case Study: Mehrgarh. In, Barker, G and Goucher, C (eds.) Cambridge World History, Volume 2: A World with Agriculture, 12,000 BCE - 500 CE. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.§REF§" }, { "id": 159, "polity": { "id": 123, "name": "pk_kachi_post_urban", "long_name": "Kachi Plain - Post-Urban Period", "start_year": -1800, "end_year": -1300 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": " The following may or may not be relevant: “The terracotta seals form a collection of little more than fifty examples, to which we can add a whole series of seal-impressions from a period II locus in PK.C… In the Indus valley and in the Kachi Plain, notably at Pirak (Pl. XXXV, A), they [seals found at Mehrgahr and Pirak] are replaced after 2500 BCE by inscribed seals of the Harappan civilisation, which perhaps represent a phase of state control that is exceptional in these regions. But the disappearance of the seals with geometric designs is only temporary and we see them re-appear once more as part of regional cultures, such as that of Pirak or of Jhukar, which followed upon the Harappan civilization.”§REF§Jarrige, J-F. (1979) Fouilles de Pirak. Paris : Diffusion de Boccard. p396-7§REF§" }, { "id": 160, "polity": { "id": 120, "name": "pk_kachi_pre_urban", "long_name": "Kachi Plain - Pre-Urban Period", "start_year": -3200, "end_year": -2500 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "Possehl states that there was no writing before the urban phase in the Indus valley. §REF§Gregory L. Possehl. The Indus Civilization. A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, Altamira, 2002, p. 51.§REF§" }, { "id": 161, "polity": { "id": 194, "name": "ru_sakha_early", "long_name": "Sakha - Early", "start_year": 1400, "end_year": 1632 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " There exist descriptions of mnemonic devices meant to help keep track of Christian festivities in the period of Russian domination, but this does not seem sufficient to infer that similar practices were in use in earlier times. \"On the wall of every Yakut dwelling is a calendar, usually consisting of a small board with holes corresponding to the number of days in the year. The immovable feasts are marked by crosses over the holes. A wooden peg is placed in the hole to indicate the current date, thus showing whether it is an ordinary day or a holiday. Fig. 1 shows a circular calendar; the inner circle has seven perforations, corresponding to the seven days of the week. A peg is shown in the hole for Sunday, over which there is a cross. The outer ring has thirty holes. When the month has thirty-one days, the peg is kept in the last hole for two days. If the month has twenty-nine or twenty-eight days, the peg must be transferred to the first day of the next month. The calendar is called kün ahar, it counts the days, or sibaska (Russian, svyatzy, calendar of saints), or nädiälä asarar mas, board which shows the week.\"§REF§Jochelson, Waldemar 1933. “Yakut”, 101§REF§" }, { "id": 162, "polity": { "id": 195, "name": "ru_sakha_late", "long_name": "Sakha - Late", "start_year": 1632, "end_year": 1900 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Balzer only mentions memorial hitching posts: 'The most important ceremony, associated with a founding Yakut ancestor named Ellei, is the annual summer YHYAK festival, a celebration of seasonal change, of KUMYS (fermented mare's milk), and of kin solidarity. Once a religious celebration led by a shaman, the ceremony has been adapted since World War I into a secular commemoration of Yakut traditions. Practiced in villages and towns, it features opening prayers (ALGYS) and libations of KUMYS to the earth. Although some Yakut debate its \"authenticity,\" the festival still includes feasting, horse racing, wrestling, and all-night line dancing to improvised chants. It lasts three joyous days in Suntar, where it is especially famed. Wedding rituals, pared down from previous eras, center around memorial hitching posts (SERQE), carved for the occasion, with couples honored by prayers, special food, and dancing. New rituals marking wedding anniversaries and graduations at all educational levels include the placement of SERQE, on which names of those honored are carved. But traditional rituals of birth, supplicating the goddess of fertility, Aiyycyt, have become less popular, with some Yakut women even mocking the restrictions that were once associated with beliefs about female impurity. Russian Orthodox holidays are rarely celebrated.' §REF§Balzer, Marjorie Mandelstam and Skoggard, Ian: eHRAF Cultural Summary for the Yakut§REF§ The use of calenders as described by Jochelson more closely resembles mnemonic devices than written records: 'After becoming Christians the Yakut no longer followed this method of reckoning time, but oriented themselves by the Christian holidays, for instance: kirisiäniye (Russian, krestcheniye ), baptism, January sixth; Kiristiäp (Russian, Kristov ). Easter: Orosuospa (Russian Rozhdestvo ), Christmas; bul[unknown]astar (Russian, Vlasii ), or ynax tañarata (cow’s holiday), February eleventh. Russians regard Saint Vlasii as the protector of domestic cattle and among the Yakut this saint replaced the female deity, Ayisit, of their old mythology. Among the Yakut are experienced individuals who know the number of days between holidays since it is easier to deal with immovable feasts. For movable festivals, they must often consult their priest. On the wall of every Yakut dwelling is a calendar, usually consisting of a small board with holes corresponding to the number of days in the year. The immovable feasts are marked by crosses over the holes. A wooden peg is placed in the hole to indicate the current date, thus showing whether it is an ordinary day or a holiday. Fig. 1 shows a circular calendar; the inner circle has seven perforations, corresponding to the seven days of the week. A peg is shown in the hole for Sunday, over which there is a cross. The outer ring has thirty holes. When the month has thirty-one days, the peg is kept in the last hole for two days. If the month has twenty-nine or twenty-eight days, the peg must be transferred to the first day of the next month. The calendar is called kün ahar, it counts the days, or sibaska (Russian, svyatzy, calendar of saints), or nädiälä asarar mas, board which shows the week.' §REF§Jochelson, Waldemar 1933. “Yakut”, 101§REF§" }, { "id": 163, "polity": { "id": 521, "name": "eg_kushite", "long_name": "Egypt - Kushite Period", "start_year": -747, "end_year": -656 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 164, "polity": { "id": 131, "name": "sy_umayyad_cal", "long_name": "Umayyad Caliphate", "start_year": 661, "end_year": 750 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "present", "comment": null, "description": " §REF§(Beeston 1983, 1-22)§REF§" }, { "id": 165, "polity": { "id": 221, "name": "tn_fatimid_cal", "long_name": "Fatimid Caliphate", "start_year": 909, "end_year": 1171 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "present", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 166, "polity": { "id": 163, "name": "tr_konya_lba", "long_name": "Konya Plain - Late Bronze Age II", "start_year": -1500, "end_year": -1400 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 167, "polity": { "id": 73, "name": "tr_byzantine_emp_1", "long_name": "Byzantine Empire I", "start_year": 632, "end_year": 866 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " Preiser-Kapeller says absent.§REF§(Johannes Preiser-Kapeller 2015) Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences)§REF§" }, { "id": 168, "polity": { "id": 75, "name": "tr_byzantine_emp_2", "long_name": "Byzantine Empire II", "start_year": 867, "end_year": 1072 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " Preiser-Kapeller says absent.§REF§(Preiser-Kapeller 2015) Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences)§REF§" }, { "id": 169, "polity": { "id": 76, "name": "tr_byzantine_emp_3", "long_name": "Byzantine Empire III", "start_year": 1073, "end_year": 1204 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " Preiser-Kapeller says absent.§REF§(Preiser-Kapeller 2015) Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences)§REF§" }, { "id": 170, "polity": { "id": 170, "name": "tr_cappadocia_2", "long_name": "Late Cappadocia", "start_year": -330, "end_year": 16 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": " The only surviving written records about Cappadocia are from the historians writing from outside Cappadocia either at the time of the kingdom or later.§REF§Bowder, D. (ed.) (1982) Who was Who in the Greek World, 776 BC - 30 BC. Phaidon: Oxford. p171-172, 196§REF§ Detailed information about the written records of Cappadocia cannot, therefore, be given." }, { "id": 171, "polity": { "id": 158, "name": "tr_konya_eca", "long_name": "Konya Plain - Early Chalcolithic", "start_year": -6000, "end_year": -5500 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "absent", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 172, "polity": { "id": 72, "name": "tr_east_roman_emp", "long_name": "East Roman Empire", "start_year": 395, "end_year": 631 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "present", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 173, "polity": { "id": 164, "name": "tr_hatti_new_k", "long_name": "Hatti - New Kingdom", "start_year": -1400, "end_year": -1180 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " The Hittite language was related to Luwian and Palaic. Hittite adopted the Akkadian cuneiform to write their language. Approximately 375 cuneiform signs were adopted from Akkadian cuneiform. As in Akkadian, signs can be roughly categorized into phonograms, logograms, and determinatives.§REF§Gamkrelidze T. (2008) The Problem of the Origin of the Hittite Cuneiform, <i>Bulletin Of The Georgian National Academy Of Sciences</i>, vol. 2, no. 3,pp. 169-174§REF§" }, { "id": 174, "polity": { "id": 162, "name": "tr_hatti_old_k", "long_name": "Hatti - Old Kingdom", "start_year": -1650, "end_year": -1500 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 175, "polity": { "id": 156, "name": "tr_konya_mnl", "long_name": "Konya Plain - Ceramic Neolithic", "start_year": -7000, "end_year": -6600 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 176, "polity": { "id": 155, "name": "tr_konya_enl", "long_name": "Konya Plain - Early Neolithic", "start_year": -9600, "end_year": -7000 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "absent", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 177, "polity": { "id": 157, "name": "tr_konya_lnl", "long_name": "Konya Plain - Late Neolithic", "start_year": -6600, "end_year": -6000 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "absent", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 178, "polity": { "id": 173, "name": "tr_ottoman_emirate", "long_name": "Ottoman Emirate", "start_year": 1299, "end_year": 1402 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "present", "comment": null, "description": "§REF§Personal communication. Johannes Preiser-Kapeller. 2016. Institute for Medieval Research. Division of Byzantine Research. Austrian Academy of Sciences.§REF§" }, { "id": 179, "polity": { "id": 174, "name": "tr_ottoman_emp_1", "long_name": "Ottoman Empire I", "start_year": 1402, "end_year": 1517 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "present", "comment": null, "description": "§REF§Personal communication. Johannes Preiser-Kapeller. 2016. Institute for Medieval Research. Division of Byzantine Research. Austrian Academy of Sciences.§REF§" }, { "id": 180, "polity": { "id": 175, "name": "tr_ottoman_emp_2", "long_name": "Ottoman Empire II", "start_year": 1517, "end_year": 1683 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "present", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 181, "polity": { "id": 176, "name": "tr_ottoman_emp_3", "long_name": "Ottoman Empire III", "start_year": 1683, "end_year": 1839 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "present", "comment": null, "description": "" }, { "id": 182, "polity": { "id": 30, "name": "us_early_illinois_confederation", "long_name": "Early Illinois Confederation", "start_year": 1640, "end_year": 1717 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "present", "comment": null, "description": " The burial grounds \"of distinguished war chiefs were marked by an upright tree trunk, painted to record their exploits. To this was tied a small log for each enemy killed by the person it commemorated\" §REF§C. Callender, Illinois, in B. Trigger, Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 15: Northeast (1978), pp. 673-680§REF§." }, { "id": 183, "polity": { "id": 101, "name": "us_haudenosaunee_1", "long_name": "Haudenosaunee Confederacy - Early", "start_year": 1566, "end_year": 1713 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Wampum beads served as mnemonic devices: 'Wampum. Of the beads that were manufactured and used by the Iroquois those known as “wampum” are by far the most significant. Though the term wampum has been used in some places to include both the discoidal and the cylindrical beads, the true wampum is an Indian-made shell bead, cylindical in form, averaging about one-quarter of an inch in length by an eighth of an inch in diameter, perfectly straight on the sides, with a hole running through it the long way. Some of the wampum beads prepared for commercial trade were as long as half an inch but none of the long beads has been found in the wampum belts. Wampum was made from the quahaug or hard shell clam (Venus Mercenaria) which provides both white and purple beads. The central axis (columellae) of the great conch shell (pyrula Carica), was used for white wampum.' §REF§Lyford, Carrie A. 1945. “Iroquois Crafts”, 45b§REF§ 'The longhouse owns “wampums” which validate its position as a ritual center but which are rarely brought out. Wampum occasionally figures in the ritual, such as the string of wampum used in the rite of confession. But the significance of wampum generally is that because it is a valuable object, it is used to indicate the significance of the event, either by giving it as a commemoration of the event or as being shown in remembrance of the event. Wampum belts, for example, were given at treaties to indicate good faith in the making of the treaty, and might be brought out to remind others of the treaty. In and of itself, wampum is not sacred.' §REF§Tooker, Elisabeth 1970. “Iroquois Ceremonial Of Midwinter”, 30§REF§ Wampum encoded regulations and agreements: 'The League of the Iroquois was governed by a carefully worked out constitution that was transmitted orally from one generation to another by certain leaders (lords or sachems) whose business it was to learn and to recite the laws and regulations. For many generations these laws and regulations were recorded in a collection of wampum belts and strings, twenty-five of which are preserved today in the New York State Museum, whose director has been proclaimed “the keeper of the wampums.”' §REF§Lyford, Carrie A. 1945. “Iroquois Crafts”, 9b§REF§" }, { "id": 184, "polity": { "id": 102, "name": "us_haudenosaunee_2", "long_name": "Haudenosaunee Confederacy - Late", "start_year": 1714, "end_year": 1848 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Wampum beads served as mnemonic devices: 'Wampum. Of the beads that were manufactured and used by the Iroquois those known as “wampum” are by far the most significant. Though the term wampum has been used in some places to include both the discoidal and the cylindrical beads, the true wampum is an Indian-made shell bead, cylindical in form, averaging about one-quarter of an inch in length by an eighth of an inch in diameter, perfectly straight on the sides, with a hole running through it the long way. Some of the wampum beads prepared for commercial trade were as long as half an inch but none of the long beads has been found in the wampum belts. Wampum was made from the quahaug or hard shell clam (Venus Mercenaria) which provides both white and purple beads. The central axis (columellae) of the great conch shell (pyrula Carica), was used for white wampum.' §REF§Lyford, Carrie A. 1945. “Iroquois Crafts”, 45b§REF§ 'The longhouse owns “wampums” which validate its position as a ritual center but which are rarely brought out. Wampum occasionally figures in the ritual, such as the string of wampum used in the rite of confession. But the significance of wampum generally is that because it is a valuable object, it is used to indicate the significance of the event, either by giving it as a commemoration of the event or as being shown in remembrance of the event. Wampum belts, for example, were given at treaties to indicate good faith in the making of the treaty, and might be brought out to remind others of the treaty. In and of itself, wampum is not sacred.' §REF§Tooker, Elisabeth 1970. “Iroquois Ceremonial Of Midwinter”, 30§REF§ Wampum encoded regulations and agreements: 'The League of the Iroquois was governed by a carefully worked out constitution that was transmitted orally from one generation to another by certain leaders (lords or sachems) whose business it was to learn and to recite the laws and regulations. For many generations these laws and regulations were recorded in a collection of wampum belts and strings, twenty-five of which are preserved today in the New York State Museum, whose director has been proclaimed “the keeper of the wampums.”' §REF§Lyford, Carrie A. 1945. “Iroquois Crafts”, 9b§REF§ 'Despite the efforts of the Onondagas at Onondaga tohave them returned to Onondaga, the council fire of theConfederacy and its wampum records remained at BuffaloCreek until after that reservation had been sold andCaptain Cold (“The League of the Iroquois: Its History,Politics, and Ritual,” fig. 11, this vol.), keeper of thecouncil fire and the wampum, had died. In 1847 bothwere moved back to Onondaga (Clark 1849, 1:109, 124).However, a number of Onondagas (approximately 150)continued to live on the Seneca and Tuscarora Reservationsin western New York State, the largest number onthe Allegany Reservation (New York (State) Secretary ofState 1857:507; Fletcher 1888:551; New York (State)Legislature. Assembly 1889:59; U.S. Census Office. 11thCensus 1892:6).' §REF§Blau, Harold, Jack Campisi, and Elisabeth Tooker 1978. “Onondaga”, 496§REF§ 'After the Revolution, about 225 Onondagas chose tofollow Joseph Brant, the Mohawk chief, to Canada andto settle on the Six Nations Reserve (Johnston 1964:52). [...] Thus, after the Revolution, two separate League councils were established, one in the UnitedStates and the other in Canada, each with its owncomplement of hereditary chieftainships. Each also had its own wampum for the wampum of the League held bythe Onondagas had been divided, half being given to theOnondagas at the Six Nations Reserve and half remainingin New York State (see “The League of the Iroquois:Its History, Politics, and Ritual,” this vol.).' §REF§Blau, Harold, Jack Campisi, and Elisabeth Tooker 1978. “Onondaga”, 495§REF§" }, { "id": 185, "polity": { "id": 287, "name": "uz_samanid_emp", "long_name": "Samanid Empire", "start_year": 819, "end_year": 999 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 186, "polity": { "id": 370, "name": "uz_timurid_emp", "long_name": "Timurid Empire", "start_year": 1370, "end_year": 1526 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 187, "polity": { "id": 541, "name": "ye_qasimid_dyn", "long_name": "Yemen - Qasimid Dynasty", "start_year": 1637, "end_year": 1805 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " No information on mnemonic devices has been found so far." }, { "id": 188, "polity": { "id": 671, "name": "ni_dahomey_k", "long_name": "Foys", "start_year": 1715, "end_year": 1894 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "present", "comment": null, "description": " “In the Aido Hwedo house, then, rested these thirteen boxes. When a birth occurred during the year, a stone was put in the proper part of the first box, according to whether the baby was a boy or a girl. At the end of the year the woman in charge took the stones out of the thirteenth box and threw them away, for after a child had reached fourteen years of age, he was regarded as an adult and was included in the annual counting. The stones in the twelfth box were put into the thirteenth, those in the eleventh into the twelfth, those in the tenth into the eleventh, and so on until the second had been emptied into the third, the first into the second, and this last one, now empty, was ready to receive the stones which indicated the births for the new year. Inside the palace walls there was another house named Abodji, watched over by a woman called Ndana. In this house, also, there were cases, but here they numbered fifteen. These cases received the stones which marked the deaths of Dahomean citizens. When a chief came to report deaths, he was asked the age and sex of the persons who had died. These reports were brought at short intervals during the year to the proper officials. For the region about Abomey, they were told to the Mingan, and for the other districts of the Kingdom to the chiefs who ruled over them. When a report was made at the palace, if the death was that of an adult male, a stone was placed in the fourteenth box; if it was a woman who had died, one was put in the fifteenth. If a boy aged three had died, a stone was placed in the proper half of the third case.” §REF§HERSKOVITS, M. J. (1932). POPULATION STATISTICS IN THE KINGDOM OF DAHOMEY. Human Biology, 4(2), 252–261: 258. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/8T74FM7D/collection§REF§" }, { "id": 189, "polity": { "id": 569, "name": "mx_mexico_1", "long_name": "Early United Mexican States", "start_year": 1810, "end_year": 1920 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "present", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 190, "polity": { "id": 579, "name": "gb_england_plantagenet", "long_name": "Plantagenet England", "start_year": 1154, "end_year": 1485 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Abacus’ and chequered cloths were used as part of the accounting process at court. Wooden tallies were used as receipts.§REF§(Prestwich 2005: 58) Prestwich, Michael. 2005. Plantagenet England 1225-1360. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XTBKFDCI§REF§" }, { "id": 191, "polity": { "id": 576, "name": "us_chaco_bonito_3", "long_name": "Chaco Canyon - Late Bonito phase", "start_year": 1101, "end_year": 1140 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "present", "comment": null, "description": " “Although the ancient people of the Southwest didn't have a written language, they had effective ways to communicate. Cultures worldwide have used rock art to transmit ideas and beliefs. There are two types of rock art, petroglyphs and pictographs… At Chaco, and throughout the American Southwest, rock images were probably an important form of visual communication. Some are images of clan symbols; others are records of important events during migrations. Still others are memory aids for recalling stories, songs, and ceremonies.”§REF§(“Chaco Culture - Communication”) “Chaco Culture” NPS Museum Collections, accessed May 8, 2023, https://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/chcu/index6.html. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/NMRVDA5I§REF§" }, { "id": 192, "polity": { "id": 565, "name": "at_habsburg_1", "long_name": "Austria - Habsburg Dynasty I", "start_year": 1454, "end_year": 1648 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "present", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 193, "polity": { "id": 305, "name": "it_lombard_k", "long_name": "Lombard Kingdom", "start_year": 568, "end_year": 774 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": " Mnemonic devices have not been mentioned in the sources consulted." }, { "id": 194, "polity": { "id": 575, "name": "us_united_states_of_america_reconstruction", "long_name": "Us Reconstruction-Progressive", "start_year": 1866, "end_year": 1933 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 195, "polity": { "id": 563, "name": "us_antebellum", "long_name": "Antebellum US", "start_year": 1776, "end_year": 1865 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 196, "polity": { "id": 295, "name": "tm_khwarezmid_emp", "long_name": "Khwarezmid Empire", "start_year": 1157, "end_year": 1231 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 197, "polity": { "id": 797, "name": "de_empire_1", "long_name": "Holy Roman Empire - Ottonian-Salian Dynasty", "start_year": 919, "end_year": 1125 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": "" }, { "id": 198, "polity": { "id": 360, "name": "ir_saffarid_emp", "long_name": "Saffarid Caliphate", "start_year": 861, "end_year": 1003 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 200, "polity": { "id": 601, "name": "ru_soviet_union", "long_name": "Soviet Union", "start_year": 1918, "end_year": 1991 }, "year_from": 1923, "year_to": 1991, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "present", "comment": null, "description": "" }, { "id": 201, "polity": { "id": 571, "name": "ru_romanov_dyn_2", "long_name": "Russian Empire, Romanov Dynasty II", "start_year": 1776, "end_year": 1917 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Mnemonic_device", "mnemonic_device": "present", "comment": null, "description": "" } ] }