Nonwritten Record List
A viewset for viewing and editing Nonwritten Records.
GET /api/sc/nonwritten-records/?format=api&page=6
{ "count": 339, "next": "https://seshat-db.com/api/sc/nonwritten-records/?format=api&page=7", "previous": "https://seshat-db.com/api/sc/nonwritten-records/?format=api&page=5", "results": [ { "id": 251, "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": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 252, "polity": { "id": 159, "name": "tr_konya_lca", "long_name": "Konya Plain - Late Chalcolithic", "start_year": -5500, "end_year": -3000 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": " Paintings on the walls. Mud was applied to the brick. On a white background, the paintings are painted with red ocher patterns. Gray and blue are used too, but rarely. Only geometric patterns. We do not know whether there was overall design paintings (there are only fragments of plaster). Fragments of plaster show what might be called \" irrational Meanders \". We do not know whether they transmit any information.§REF§Excavations at Can Hasan: First Preliminary Report, 1961. D. H. French Source: Anatolian Studies, Vol. 12 (1962), British Institute at Ankara, pp. 33§REF§" }, { "id": 253, "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": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 254, "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": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " (1) The relief carvings: the Hittites also expressed some messages through relief carvings that were characteristic during the New Kingdom. Usually represent a single character (king or deity) or cult scene involving a ruler. Among some of the reliefs, especially those located at the communication routes, symbols of royal power were represented - e. g. Yazılıkaya, Sirkeli, Firaktin§REF§Makowski M. (2009) Świat późnej epoki brązu. pp.162 [In:] A. Smogorzewska (ed.) <i>Archeologia starożytnego Bliskiego Wschodu</i>, Warszawa: Instytut Archeologii UW, pp. 151-187§REF§. (2) Hittite royal seals - seals of punching are a distinctive type for Hittites. After period of medium bronze, cylinder seals were used sporadically. Royal seals can be clearly distinguished, showing the image of the monarch. In the Suppiluliumma, a distinctive cartouche appears, which also has the name of the ruler and his titulary. Sometimes the ruler is shown in the arms of one of the most important deities in the country or its tutelary deity. There are also royal seals with representations of the king dressed as a priest or a warrior, or together with the queen §REF§Makowski M. (2009) Świat późnej epoki brązu. pp.164 [In:] A. Smogorzewska (ed.) <i>Archeologia starożytnego Bliskiego Wschodu</i>, Warszawa: Instytut Archeologii UW, pp. 151-187§REF§. (3) Sculpture and bas-relief - Stone sculptures date primarily from the New Kingdom, and are represented by statues of lions and sphinxes made in sculpture semi-double, and partly in relief. They were part of the city gates (Gates of Lions at Hattusa, Gates of Sphinxes at Alaca Höyük) and temples' entrances. Submit lions served as apotropaic and sphinxes emphasized a symbolic move from a profane zone to a sacred zone. §REF§Makowski M. (2009) Świat późnej epoki brązu. pp.164 [In:] A. Smogorzewska (ed.) <i>Archeologia starożytnego Bliskiego Wschodu</i>, Warszawa: Instytut Archeologii UW, pp. 151-187§REF§ Eflatun Pınar Orthostates, quadrilateral stone slabs set vertically along the wall monumental buildings, usually decorated with reliefs. Orthostates are characteristic of Hittite art and decorated with temples, palaces, gates(Hattusa and Alaca Höyük).(4) Vessels relief - Vase from the vicinity of Inandik depicting a festival celebration." }, { "id": 255, "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": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " (1) The relief carvings: the Hittites also expressed some messages through relief carvings that were characteristic during the New Kingdom. Usually represent a single character (king or deity) or cult scene involving a ruler. Among some of the reliefs, especially those located at the communication routes, symbols of royal power were represented - e. g. Yazılıkaya, Sirkeli, Firaktin§REF§Makowski M. (2009) Świat późnej epoki brązu. pp.162 [In:] A. Smogorzewska (ed.) <i>Archeologia starożytnego Bliskiego Wschodu</i>, Warszawa: Instytut Archeologii UW, pp. 151-187§REF§. (2) Hittite royal seals - seals of punching are a distinctive type for Hittites. After period of medium bronze, cylinder seals were used sporadically. Royal seals can be clearly distinguished, showing the image of the monarch. In the Suppiluliumma, a distinctive cartouche appears, which also has the name of the ruler and his titulary. Sometimes the ruler is shown in the arms of one of the most important deities in the country or its tutelary deity. There are also royal seals with representations of the king dressed as a priest or a warrior, or together with the queen §REF§Makowski M. (2009) Świat późnej epoki brązu. pp.164 [In:] A. Smogorzewska (ed.) <i>Archeologia starożytnego Bliskiego Wschodu</i>, Warszawa: Instytut Archeologii UW, pp. 151-187§REF§. (3) Sculpture and bas-relief - Stone sculptures date primarily from the New Kingdom, and are represented by statues of lions and sphinxes made in sculpture semi-double, and partly in relief. They were part of the city gates (Gates of Lions at Hattusa, Gates of Sphinxes at Alaca Höyük) and temples' entrances. Submit lions served as apotropaic and sphinxes emphasized a symbolic move from a profane zone to a sacred zone. §REF§Makowski M. (2009) Świat późnej epoki brązu. pp.164 [In:] A. Smogorzewska (ed.) <i>Archeologia starożytnego Bliskiego Wschodu</i>, Warszawa: Instytut Archeologii UW, pp. 151-187§REF§ Eflatun Pınar Orthostates, quadrilateral stone slabs set vertically along the wall monumental buildings, usually decorated with reliefs. Orthostates are characteristic of Hittite art and decorated with temples, palaces, gates(Hattusa and Alaca Höyük).(4) Vessels relief - Vase from the vicinity of Inandik depicting a festival celebration." }, { "id": 256, "polity": { "id": 169, "name": "tr_lysimachus_k", "long_name": "Lysimachus Kingdom", "start_year": -323, "end_year": -281 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 257, "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": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": " In Çatalhöyük houses archaeologists found wall paintings and reliefs depicting geometric, anthropomorfic and zoomorphic motifs§REF§Hodder I. 2007.<i>The Leopard's Tale: Revealing the Mysteries of Çatalhöyük</i>, London. pg. 174, 180-181.§REF§, but its role as some kind of communication or writing system is quite unknown." }, { "id": 258, "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": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "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": 259, "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": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "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": 260, "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": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 261, "polity": { "id": 166, "name": "tr_phrygian_k", "long_name": "Phrygian Kingdom", "start_year": -900, "end_year": -695 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": "§REF§Roller, L., \"Phrygian and the Phrygians\" <i>Oxford Handbook of Ancien Anatolia (2011)</i>pg:565-568§REF§" }, { "id": 262, "polity": { "id": 71, "name": "tr_roman_dominate", "long_name": "Roman Empire - Dominate", "start_year": 285, "end_year": 394 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " The 4th and 5th centuries were a \"golden age\" for patristic literature. §REF§(Cameron 2013, 14)§REF§" }, { "id": 263, "polity": { "id": 171, "name": "tr_rum_sultanate", "long_name": "Rum Sultanate", "start_year": 1077, "end_year": 1307 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Examples include chronicles and legal documents such as the <i>waqf</i>. §REF§Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001, p.102-103.§REF§" }, { "id": 264, "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": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "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": 265, "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": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "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§ Wampum functioned as a constitution of sorts: '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": 266, "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": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "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§ Wampum functioned as a constitution of sorts: '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": 267, "polity": { "id": 20, "name": "us_kamehameha_k", "long_name": "Kingdom of Hawaii - Kamehameha Period", "start_year": 1778, "end_year": 1819 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": " Writing was introduced by Christian missionaries starting from the 1820s §REF§(Kuykendall 1938, 102-118)§REF§." }, { "id": 268, "polity": { "id": 296, "name": "uz_chagatai_khanate", "long_name": "Chagatai Khanate", "start_year": 1227, "end_year": 1402 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Rich literary corpus." }, { "id": 269, "polity": { "id": 469, "name": "uz_janid_dyn", "long_name": "Khanate of Bukhara", "start_year": 1599, "end_year": 1747 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 270, "polity": { "id": 465, "name": "uz_khwarasm_1", "long_name": "Ancient Khwarazm", "start_year": -1000, "end_year": -521 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "SSP", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": " \"The Achaemenids brought writing to Sogdiana, and the written language long remained the Aramaic of the Achaemenid Empire.\" §REF§(De la Vaissière 2005, 17)§REF§" }, { "id": 271, "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": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": " \"Highly literate and given to careful record-keeping\"§REF§(Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.§REF§" }, { "id": 272, "polity": { "id": 468, "name": "uz_sogdiana_city_states", "long_name": "Sogdiana - City-States Period", "start_year": 604, "end_year": 711 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 273, "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": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "unknown", "comment": null, "description": " Examples in Kinds of Written Documents." }, { "id": 274, "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": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": "" }, { "id": 275, "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": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " “The prime minister and chief executioner of the king, the Mingan, had command over the village-chiefs of the region of Abomey. Shortly before operations of a new campaign were to start, every head of a \"collectivity,\" e.g., a group of compounds inhabited by those families related in the male line, brought an account of the number of his men to the head of the village, who placed a number of pebbles corresponding to the total in a small sack. In this count were included all males over the age of thirteen, because above this age, all were considered men. // “About ten or twelve days before mobilisation was to commence, the village-chiefs, with their sacks of small stones, came before the Mingan. On each sack was sewn a symbol which indicated from which village it had come,4 so that there would be no difficulty in identifying it. In the South, the villages about Whydah reported to the Yovogan, who there represented the king. In Aliada there were five sub-chiefs to whom the chiefs of villages brought their sacks; in the north, two; to the east, two; and to the west, two. All the sacks sent to these district chiefs were also brought to the palace at Abomey, and any chief who disclosed the number of pebbles he brought to the palace did so at the peril of his life, for were this disclosure to be discovered he would lose his head. The essence of this system, as a matter of fact, was its secrecy. The power of Dahomey lay in the number of its inhabitants, and this constituted a secret which the king alone might know. // “The sacks, then, were brought before the Mingan. But while it was his duty to receive their bearers, it was not his right to count their con- tents. This was done by an official called the Koto, who took the sacks, still in the possession of the village-heads of the district of Abomey, to the king himself. The chiefs were conducted by one of the king's wives to whom this service was specially delegated, and who, with the Koto, had already counted the pebbles and knew how many men were to be found in each village. The king, as each chief prostrated himself to show respect for the monarch, would indicate to which army corps the men from his village were to be assigned. Nothing was said as to the number of men who were to go. After the campaign, however, the commander of each corps would be asked how many men he had received from each village, and if the answer was not a number equal to one-half of the counters in that year's sack for that village, its chief was strangled. // “What of the enumeration of the women? After the troops had been mobilised, there was a period before the army set out for the battle, during which organisation was perfected. When the men had been assembled for six days, every commander asked each of his soldiers how many wives he had, whether his mother was alive or dead, how many unmarried daughters over thirteen there were in his family. In accordance with the principle of indirection I have already enunciated, the real purpose for which this information was desired was not indicated, for the soldiers were told that the king wanted to know those who had been left at home, so that if a man were killed on a battle field, his dependents could be recompensed for their loss. // “The army chief, using pebbles to indicate the number of women dependent on his soldiers, village by village, reported the number to the palace, where the sacks were put in charge of a woman who kept check on the affairs of the army. When this count was finished, the army began its campaign. On its completion, each commander was asked how many men he had received from each village, being con- fronted with the village-chiefs, each of whom, as a control, was asked also to tell the number of men who left for war from his village and the number who returned. At the same time, before a commission pre- sided over by one of the war-chiefs, the heads of the army-corps con- firmed the numbers of women and girls over thirteen reported by the men from each village. Thereupon, each village-chief was told to indicate the day on which he would again appear before this court with the heads of those collectivities from which men did not go to war.” §REF§HERSKOVITS, M. J. (1932). POPULATION STATISTICS IN THE KINGDOM OF DAHOMEY. Human Biology, 4(2), 252–261; 255-257 https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/8T74FM7D/collection§REF§ “Another question arising from the incidence of credit in both the local economy and the overseas trade is the nature of the indigenous system of recordkeeping. In Allada the local people, it was noted in 1670, in the absence of writing used knotted strings to keep records of various matters, including commercial transactions (“the price of goods”). Several later accounts allude to other mechanical devices for keeping financial (and fiscal) records in Dahomey. After the conquest of Allada in 1724, the King’s officers counted the captives taken (over 8,000) by “giving a booge [cowrie] to every one.” An English trader visiting the Dahomean court in 1772 recorded that the royal gunner showed him a calabash containing fifteen pebbles to indicate the number of cannon fired in a salute in his honour.” §REF§Austin, Gareth, et al. “Credit, Currencies, and Culture: African Financial Institutions in Historical Perspective.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies, vol. 34, no. 1, 2001, p. 144: 33. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SPXH2IUW/collection§REF§" }, { "id": 276, "polity": { "id": 659, "name": "ni_allada_k", "long_name": "Allada", "start_year": 1100, "end_year": 1724 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " “Another question arising from the incidence of credit in both the local economy and the overseas trade is the nature of the indigenous system of recordkeeping. In Allada the local people, it was noted in 1670, in the absence of writing used knotted strings to keep records of various matters, including commercial transactions (“the price of goods”). Several later accounts allude to other mechanical devices for keeping financial (and fiscal) records in Dahomey. After the conquest of Allada in 1724, the King’s officers counted the captives taken (over 8,000) by “giving a booge [cowrie] to every one.” An English trader visiting the Dahomean court in 1772 recorded that the royal gunner showed him a calabash containing fifteen pebbles to indicate the number of cannon fired in a salute in his honour.” §REF§Austin, Gareth, et al. “Credit, Currencies, and Culture: African Financial Institutions in Historical Perspective.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies, vol. 34, no. 1, 2001, p. 144: 33. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SPXH2IUW/collection§REF§" }, { "id": 277, "polity": { "id": 662, "name": "ni_whydah_k", "long_name": "Whydah", "start_year": 1671, "end_year": 1727 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Present in Allada and Dahomey, so very likely also in Whydah: “Another question arising from the incidence of credit in both the local economy and the overseas trade is the nature of the indigenous system of recordkeeping. In Allada the local people, it was noted in 1670, in the absence of writing used knotted strings to keep records of various matters, including commercial transactions (“the price of goods”). Several later accounts allude to other mechanical devices for keeping financial (and fiscal) records in Dahomey. After the conquest of Allada in 1724, the King’s officers counted the captives taken (over 8,000) by “giving a booge [cowrie] to every one.” An English trader visiting the Dahomean court in 1772 recorded that the royal gunner showed him a calabash containing fifteen pebbles to indicate the number of cannon fired in a salute in his honour.” §REF§Austin, Gareth, et al. “Credit, Currencies, and Culture: African Financial Institutions in Historical Perspective.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies, vol. 34, no. 1, 2001, p. 144: 33. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SPXH2IUW/collection§REF§" }, { "id": 278, "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": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 279, "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": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Royal and privy seals. A secret seal also came into use during the reign of Edward III, by which he would use his signet ring for private communications. In 1335 the Griffin Seal also came into use, for land and revenue business. §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": 280, "polity": { "id": 568, "name": "cz_bohemian_k_2", "long_name": "Kingdom of Bohemia - Luxembourgian and Jagiellonian Dynasty", "start_year": 1310, "end_year": 1526 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Stamps and seals. “Seals became important when in the course of the 13th century transactions that would otherwise take place as an oral agreement had to be put in writing and thus became legal evidence. The seal confirmed that what was written in the document corresponded to reality. The seal guaranteed the legal transaction described in writing, but at the same time made the ruler and his will (and therefore also the will of God) present symbolically whenever such as transaction took place. The ruler depicted on the seal — whether enthroned or on horseback — became a substitute image of the ruler’s person. Gradually, that image was replaced by the ruler’s coat of arms.”§REF§(Antonín 2017: 63-64) Antonín, Robert. 2017. The Ideal Ruler in Medieval Bohemia, trans. Sean Mark Miller, East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450. Leiden; Boston: Brill. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/G2S9M8F6§REF§" }, { "id": 281, "polity": { "id": 305, "name": "it_lombard_k", "long_name": "Lombard Kingdom", "start_year": 568, "end_year": 774 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Seal rings were used by members of the state office.§REF§Christie 1998: 100. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/975BEGKF§REF§ The royal seal for official documentation.§REF§Christie 1998: 125. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/975BEGKF§REF§" }, { "id": 282, "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": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Seals, stamps, photographs (daguerrortype was invented in 1839). §REF§Volo and Volo 2004: 39. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SIB5XSW97.§REF§" }, { "id": 283, "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": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Petroglyphs; pictographs. “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. Petroglyphs are images carved or pecked into a rock surface. In Chaco Canyon, petroglyphs are carved into the sandstone cliffs that form the canyon walls. Many are located on boulders. Pictographs, images painted on a rock surface, are less common in Chaco Canyon because the paint erodes over time. 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": 284, "polity": { "id": 563, "name": "us_antebellum", "long_name": "Antebellum US", "start_year": 1776, "end_year": 1865 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Seals, stamps, photographs (daguerrortype was invented in 1839). §REF§Volo and Volo 2004: 39. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SIB5XSW97.§REF§" }, { "id": 285, "polity": { "id": 591, "name": "gt_tikal_late_classic", "long_name": "Late Classic Tikal", "start_year": 555, "end_year": 869 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " “The most interesting find was a collection of 37 bone objects engraved with minute glyphs and pictorial scenes, highlighted in red cinnabar. Subjects range from the historical to the mythological, the latter involving lively renderings of rain gods fishing and the voyage, and then sinking, of a canoe carrying the dying maze God and an array of anthropomorphic creatures. One bears a long list of death-dates for foreign nobility, while others supply intriguing but still largely opaque references to the kingdoms of Copan and Palenque. The last clearly historical date on a bone is from 727, though another might provide one in 733, suggesting that the king's death and burial can be placed shortly before the inauguration of his son the following year.”)§REF§(Martin and Grube 2000: 47) Martin, Simon and Grube, Nikolai. 2000. Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya. London; New York: Thames & Hudson. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/5WIIDVRJ§REF§ “The ceramic cups the cacao was served in were just as impressive. They were decorated with beautifully painted pictures and glyphs that proclaimed the glory of Tikal and its powerful ahau. Hasaw presented the cups to his guests as gifts. When they left, they took home with them a vivid reminder of all that was wonderful, and fearful, about Tikal and its great king.”§REF§(Mann 2002: 25) Mann, Elizabeth. 2002. Tikal: The Centre of the Mayan World. New York: Mikaya Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VM7Q67Q8§REF§" }, { "id": 286, "polity": { "id": 302, "name": "gb_tudor_stuart", "long_name": "England Tudor-Stuart", "start_year": 1486, "end_year": 1689 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Official seals and stamps. “Henry VII had ensured that his signature on a document took precedence over the seals of established constitutional practice, while under Wolsey and Cromwell efficiency and speed had taken priority over the letter of the law.”§REF§(Guy 1988: 314) Guy, John. 1988. Tudor England. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IIFAUUNA§REF§ “This Cardinal [Wolsey] was not a very learned person, but he was much thought of by the King. He was of very low birth, his father being a butcher, but the King gave him the Chancellor’s seals, and all that he ordered in the kingdom was done, even the Lords obeying him.”§REF§(Stater 2002: 97-98) Stater, Victor. 2002. The Political History of Tudor and Stuart England. London; New York: Routledge, 2002. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/WWPXBUHX§REF§" }, { "id": 287, "polity": { "id": 606, "name": "gb_anglo_saxon_2", "long_name": "Anglo-Saxon England II", "start_year": 927, "end_year": 1065 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Wax seals for official royal documents.§REF§(Cathedral House and The Precincts Canterbury) ‘Anglo-Saxon Canterbury’, Canterbury Cathedral (blog). https://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/heritage/history/anglo-saxon-canterbury/. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/KTYTGA3V§REF§" }, { "id": 288, "polity": { "id": 295, "name": "tm_khwarezmid_emp", "long_name": "Khwarezmid Empire", "start_year": 1157, "end_year": 1231 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Senior officials and their deputies in the state administration had twelve official seals.§REF§Buniyatov 2015: 80. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SAEVEJFH§REF§" }, { "id": 289, "polity": { "id": 561, "name": "us_hohokam_culture", "long_name": "Hohokam Culture", "start_year": 300, "end_year": 1500 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " There were no written records left by the Sonoran Desert People.§REF§”History & Culture - Casa Grande Ruins National Monument (U.S. National Park Service),”. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/HJU2S97P§REF§" }, { "id": 290, "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": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": "Royal seals and stamps were used to authenticate charters and official imperial documents. §REF§Wilson 2016: 32, 269. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/N5M9R9XA§REF§" }, { "id": 291, "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": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Seals, stamps." }, { "id": 292, "polity": { "id": 297, "name": "kz_oirat", "long_name": "Oirats", "start_year": 1368, "end_year": 1630 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Royal seals. “The sources record that Adai was executed in 1438. The same year Togoon sent gifts and horses to the emperor of Ming as an expression of his gratitude. In reply, the emperor sent him fifty rolls of silk and a letter with the following words ‘You have fulfilled the hopes of your predecessor lords, I understood your boundless loyalty when I saw your envoys and the horses that were sent as gifts. You showed that you have succeeded in taking your revenge on Alutai (Arugtai); vengeance that has been passed down from one generation to the next. I have heard that you have found the imperial seal and were going to bring it (to me). This is also a correct thought. But before this time many states existed and lasted many years not because they had seals. Therefore Prince (van), if you found that seal, keep it for yourself.’11 The royal seal was a symbol of potential Yuan revival. Perhaps the Ming emperor refused it because Togoon meant the seal of the Yuan to be used in its place of origin.”§REF§(Jamsran 2010: 502) Jamsran, L. 2010. “The Crisis of the Forty and the Four,” in The History of Mongolia: Volume II, Yuan and Late Medieval Period, ed. David Sneath, vol. 2, 3 vols. Kent: Global Oriental. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/D8IE2XAD§REF§" }, { "id": 293, "polity": { "id": 573, "name": "ru_golden_horde", "long_name": "Golden Horde", "start_year": 1240, "end_year": 1440 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Insignia, imperial seals, stamps.§REF§Halperin 1987: 40, 90. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/VCPWVNM.§REF§" }, { "id": 294, "polity": { "id": 360, "name": "ir_saffarid_emp", "long_name": "Saffarid Caliphate", "start_year": 861, "end_year": 1003 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " The royal seal ring.§REF§Bosworth 1994: 185. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7W46D62E§REF§" }, { "id": 295, "polity": { "id": 587, "name": "gb_british_emp_1", "long_name": "British Empire I", "start_year": 1690, "end_year": 1849 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Royal seals, merchant seals, postal stamps.§REF§(Canny 1998: 419) Canny, Nicholas. ed. 1998. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I The Origins of Empire, vol. 1, 5 vols. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/RTDR3NCN§REF§" }, { "id": 296, "polity": { "id": 574, "name": "gb_anglo_saxon_1", "long_name": "Anglo-Saxon England I", "start_year": 410, "end_year": 926 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Germanic runes were used by the Anglo-Saxon settlers. Letters based on Germanic runes were then incorporated into the Latin alphabet. §REF§(Early Medieval: Networks’) ‘Early Medieval: Networks’, English Heritage. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/story-of-england/early-medieval/networks/. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IGSR3527§REF§" }, { "id": 297, "polity": { "id": 566, "name": "fr_france_napoleonic", "long_name": "Napoleonic France", "start_year": 1816, "end_year": 1870 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Stamps, seals etc." }, { "id": 298, "polity": { "id": 572, "name": "at_austro_hungarian_emp", "long_name": "Austro-Hungarian Monarchy", "start_year": 1867, "end_year": 1918 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Seals, stamps etc." }, { "id": 299, "polity": { "id": 786, "name": "gb_british_emp_2", "long_name": "British Empire II", "start_year": 1850, "end_year": 1968 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 300, "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": "Nonwritten_record", "nonwritten_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": "Propaganda poster were designed to convey messages about the Communist Party's goals, achievements, and directives. They often featured symbolic imagery, bold colors, and motivational slogans. The imagery in these posters was carefully crafted to inspire, educate, or mobilize the population around various themes such as industrial productivity, collective farming, political loyalty, and military strength.§REF§“Views and Re-Views: Soviet Political Posters and Cartoons | Medium: Posters,” accessed November 24, 2023, https://library.brown.edu/cds/Views_and_Reviews/medium_lists/posters.html.<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TDRA24PX\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: TDRA24PX</b></a>§REF§\r\n\r\nThe Soviet Union also made extensive use of symbols and emblems to convey its ideals and values. The hammer and sickle, the red star, and the State Emblem of the Soviet Union are examples of such symbols.§REF§Harald Wydra, “The Power of Symbols—Communism and Beyond,” International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society 25, no. 1/3 (2012): 49–69, accessed November 24, 2023, https://www.jstor.org/stable/23279944.<a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XI4RSUHR\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"fw-bolder\"> <b> Zotero link: XI4RSUHR</b></a>§REF§" } ] }