Written Record List
A viewset for viewing and editing Written Records.
GET /api/sc/written-records/?format=api&page=6
{ "count": 584, "next": "https://seshat-db.com/api/sc/written-records/?format=api&page=7", "previous": "https://seshat-db.com/api/sc/written-records/?format=api&page=5", "results": [ { "id": 253, "polity": { "id": 440, "name": "mn_turk_khaganate_2", "long_name": "Second Turk Khaganate", "start_year": 682, "end_year": 744 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " \"There are several major inscriptions in the Turkic runic script from Khoshoo Tsaidam but also from the Tuul, Ongi, and Selenge River basins.\" §REF§(Rogers 2012, 226)§REF§" }, { "id": 254, "polity": { "id": 286, "name": "mn_uygur_khaganate", "long_name": "Uigur Khaganate", "start_year": 745, "end_year": 840 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 255, "polity": { "id": 438, "name": "mn_xianbei", "long_name": "Xianbei Confederation", "start_year": 100, "end_year": 250 }, "year_from": 100, "year_to": 229, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " \"The main sources on Xianbei history are three Chinese chronicles: the Hou Han shu, chapter 90; the Wei shu [History of the Wei Dynasty, hereafter WS], chapter 30; and the Sanguo zhi [Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms]. These texts have been translated into Russian (Bichurin 1950 [1851]: 149-159; Taskin 1984: 70-86) and others European (Schreiber 1947; Mullie 1969) languages. For a long time, archaeological sites of Xianbei were not known. It is only recently that cemeteries of Xianbei culture have been excavated in China and the Eastern Baikal area (Su Bai 1977; Gan Chigeng and Sun Suzcng 1982; Mi Wenping 1994; Yu Suhua 2002; Yaremcuk 2004; 2005 etc.).\" §REF§(Kradin 2014, 131)§REF§ \"According to the Sanguo zhi [Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms], because Kebineng’s lands were near the Chinese border, many Chinese people (Zhongguo ren 中國人) fled the warlord depredations of late Han and Three Kingdoms China to join Kebineng, teaching the Xianbei how to make Chinese-style arms and armor, and even introducing some literacy.\"§REF§(Holcombe 2013, 7-8)§REF§ Kebineng's reign started in 230 CE. \"the early steppe peoples would not have been a promising vehicle for the diffusion of complicated, textually based knowledge; according to the Northern Wei dynastic history, the Rouran were illiterates whose leaders at first kept records of their troop numbers by piling up sheep turds as counters but eventually graduated to scratching simple marks onto pieces of wood. Not surprisingly, there is no evidence of the transmission of Chinese military theories and texts to the West by way of the Avars, other steppe nomads, Silk Road caravans, or any other channel prior to the activities of the Jesuit missionaries in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.\"§REF§(Graff 2016, 146) David A Graff. 2016. The Eurasian Way of War. Military practice in seventh-century China and Byzantium. Routledge. Abingdon.§REF§" }, { "id": 256, "polity": { "id": 438, "name": "mn_xianbei", "long_name": "Xianbei Confederation", "start_year": 100, "end_year": 250 }, "year_from": 230, "year_to": 250, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " \"The main sources on Xianbei history are three Chinese chronicles: the Hou Han shu, chapter 90; the Wei shu [History of the Wei Dynasty, hereafter WS], chapter 30; and the Sanguo zhi [Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms]. These texts have been translated into Russian (Bichurin 1950 [1851]: 149-159; Taskin 1984: 70-86) and others European (Schreiber 1947; Mullie 1969) languages. For a long time, archaeological sites of Xianbei were not known. It is only recently that cemeteries of Xianbei culture have been excavated in China and the Eastern Baikal area (Su Bai 1977; Gan Chigeng and Sun Suzcng 1982; Mi Wenping 1994; Yu Suhua 2002; Yaremcuk 2004; 2005 etc.).\" §REF§(Kradin 2014, 131)§REF§ \"According to the Sanguo zhi [Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms], because Kebineng’s lands were near the Chinese border, many Chinese people (Zhongguo ren 中國人) fled the warlord depredations of late Han and Three Kingdoms China to join Kebineng, teaching the Xianbei how to make Chinese-style arms and armor, and even introducing some literacy.\"§REF§(Holcombe 2013, 7-8)§REF§ Kebineng's reign started in 230 CE. \"the early steppe peoples would not have been a promising vehicle for the diffusion of complicated, textually based knowledge; according to the Northern Wei dynastic history, the Rouran were illiterates whose leaders at first kept records of their troop numbers by piling up sheep turds as counters but eventually graduated to scratching simple marks onto pieces of wood. Not surprisingly, there is no evidence of the transmission of Chinese military theories and texts to the West by way of the Avars, other steppe nomads, Silk Road caravans, or any other channel prior to the activities of the Jesuit missionaries in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.\"§REF§(Graff 2016, 146) David A Graff. 2016. The Eurasian Way of War. Military practice in seventh-century China and Byzantium. Routledge. Abingdon.§REF§" }, { "id": 257, "polity": { "id": 437, "name": "mn_hunnu_early", "long_name": "Early Xiongnu", "start_year": -1400, "end_year": -300 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " Coded inferred present for later Xiongnu Imperial Confederation: \"In several supercomplex chiefdoms the elite attempted to introduce written records (e.g. Hsiung-nu and Turks)\" §REF§(Kradin 2002, 373)§REF§ When did this transition occur? The written records in Later Xiongnu times were mainly Chinese. \"Since even the elite groups of the Xiongnu society were not particularly knowledgeable in the Chinese writing (it would be enough to mention the well known episode with the substitution of a Chanyu stamp by the order of Wang Mang), the common nomads could hardly be more literate than their leaders. Thus we may presume that the inscriptions on items from the Ivolga were made not by the Xiongnu, but by the people of the sedentary-agricultural origin and, most likely, by the immigrants or the prisoners of war from China.\" §REF§(Kradin 2014, 90)§REF§ \"the early steppe peoples would not have been a promising vehicle for the diffusion of complicated, textually based knowledge; according to the Northern Wei dynastic history, the Rouran were illiterates whose leaders at first kept records of their troop numbers by piling up sheep turds as counters but eventually graduated to scratching simple marks onto pieces of wood. Not surprisingly, there is no evidence of the transmission of Chinese military theories and texts to the West by way of the Avars, other steppe nomads, Silk Road caravans, or any other channel prior to the activities of the Jesuit missionaries in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.\"§REF§(Graff 2016, 146) David A Graff. 2016. The Eurasian Way of War. Military practice in seventh-century China and Byzantium. Routledge. Abingdon.§REF§" }, { "id": 258, "polity": { "id": 274, "name": "mn_hunnu_late", "long_name": "Late Xiongnu", "start_year": -60, "end_year": 100 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " \"Despite many problems in assessing the textual sources, archaeologists working on this period in the northern steppe zone are extremely fortunate to have historical accounts of the early nomads as seen through the eyes of state historians in China. Some textual information, no matter how problematic, is still better than none at all.\" §REF§(Honeychurch 2015, 223)§REF§ <i>Note that Chinese written records do not count as records for the Xiongnu.</i> \"In several supercomplex chiefdoms the elite attempted to introduce written records (e.g. Hsiung-nu and Turks)\",§REF§(Kradin 2002, 373)§REF§ but the use of the word 'attempted' here seems to imply that they were unsuccessful. \"the early steppe peoples would not have been a promising vehicle for the diffusion of complicated, textually based knowledge; according to the Northern Wei dynastic history, the Rouran were illiterates whose leaders at first kept records of their troop numbers by piling up sheep turds as counters but eventually graduated to scratching simple marks onto pieces of wood. Not surprisingly, there is no evidence of the transmission of Chinese military theories and texts to the West by way of the Avars, other steppe nomads, Silk Road caravans, or any other channel prior to the activities of the Jesuit missionaries in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.\"§REF§(Graff 2016, 146) David A Graff. 2016. The Eurasian Way of War. Military practice in seventh-century China and Byzantium. Routledge. Abingdon.§REF§" }, { "id": 259, "polity": { "id": 272, "name": "mn_hunnu_emp", "long_name": "Xiongnu Imperial Confederation", "start_year": -209, "end_year": -60 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " \"Despite many problems in assessing the textual sources, archaeologists working on this period in the northern steppe zone are extremely fortunate to have historical accounts of the early nomads as seen through the eyes of state historians in China. Some textual information, no matter how problematic, is still better than none at all.\" §REF§(Honeychurch 2015, 223)§REF§ <i>Note that Chinese written records do not count as records for the Xiongnu.</i> \"In several supercomplex chiefdoms the elite attempted to introduce written records (e.g. Hsiung-nu and Turks)\",§REF§(Kradin 2002, 373)§REF§ but the use of the word 'attempted' here seems to imply that they were unsuccessful. \"the early steppe peoples would not have been a promising vehicle for the diffusion of complicated, textually based knowledge; according to the Northern Wei dynastic history, the Rouran were illiterates whose leaders at first kept records of their troop numbers by piling up sheep turds as counters but eventually graduated to scratching simple marks onto pieces of wood. Not surprisingly, there is no evidence of the transmission of Chinese military theories and texts to the West by way of the Avars, other steppe nomads, Silk Road caravans, or any other channel prior to the activities of the Jesuit missionaries in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.\"§REF§(Graff 2016, 146) David A Graff. 2016. The Eurasian Way of War. Military practice in seventh-century China and Byzantium. Routledge. Abingdon.§REF§" }, { "id": 260, "polity": { "id": 444, "name": "mn_zungharian_emp", "long_name": "Zungharian Empire", "start_year": 1670, "end_year": 1757 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " \"While Tibetan language and scriptures were diligently studied in the monasteries, for civil purposes the Kalmyks and Zünghars used Oirat Mongolian in Zaya- Pandita’s clear script, in which a number of diplomatic letters have survived in Russian archives.\" §REF§(Atwood 2004, 422)§REF§" }, { "id": 261, "polity": { "id": 224, "name": "mr_wagadu_3", "long_name": "Later Wagadu Empire", "start_year": 1078, "end_year": 1203 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " \"There are no written records of any description to throw light on the history of West Africa before 900 A.D.\" §REF§(Bovill 1958, 51) Bovill, E W. 1958/1995. The Golden Trade of the Moors. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§ \"The West Africans who laid the foundations of their medieval empires during the centuries before 900 C.E. did not develop a written language they could use to record historical events.\"§REF§(Conrad 2010, 13) Conrad, D. C. 2010. Empires of Medieval West Africa. Revised Edition. Chelsea House Publishers. New York.§REF§ Oldest example of writing in West Africa c1100 CE tomb inscription at Gao.§REF§(Davidson 1998, 44) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London.§REF§" }, { "id": 262, "polity": { "id": 216, "name": "mr_wagadu_2", "long_name": "Middle Wagadu Empire", "start_year": 700, "end_year": 1077 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " \"There are no written records of any description to throw light on the history of West Africa before 900 A.D.\" §REF§(Bovill 1958, 51) Bovill, E W. 1958/1995. The Golden Trade of the Moors. Oxford University Press. Oxford.§REF§ \"The West Africans who laid the foundations of their medieval empires during the centuries before 900 C.E. did not develop a written language they could use to record historical events.\"§REF§(Conrad 2010, 13) Conrad, D. C. 2010. Empires of Medieval West Africa. Revised Edition. Chelsea House Publishers. New York.§REF§ Oldest example of writing in West Africa c1100 CE tomb inscription at Gao.§REF§(Davidson 1998, 44) Davidson, Basil. 1998. West Africa Before the Colonial Era. Routledge. London.§REF§" }, { "id": 263, "polity": { "id": 525, "name": "mx_monte_alban_1_early", "long_name": "Early Monte Alban I", "start_year": -500, "end_year": -300 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Roughly 350 inscribed stones have been found at Monte Albán (including 310 danzantes) assigned to MA I and II.§REF§Spencer, C. S. and E. M. Redmond (2003). \"Militarism, resistance, and early state development in Oaxaca, Mexico.\" Social Evolution & History 2: 25-70, p27§REF§ Mesoamerican civilizations, including the Maya, Aztec, Mixtec and Zapotec all possessed \"a true form of writing: a series of hieroglyphs arranged in vertical columns and in many instances combined with numerals. The glyphs were at least indirectly related to a spoken language.\" Zapotec inscriptions are considered true writing, since the inscriptions had verbs.§REF§Joyce Marcus. February 1980. Zapotec Writing. Scientific American. Vol 242. No 2. Scientific American, Nature America, Inc. pp.50-67. URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.jstor.rg/stable/24966257\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.jstor.rg/stable/24966257</a>§REF§" }, { "id": 264, "polity": { "id": 526, "name": "mx_monte_alban_1_late", "long_name": "Monte Alban Late I", "start_year": -300, "end_year": -100 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Roughly 350 inscribed stones have been found at Monte Albán (including 310 danzantes) assigned to MA I and II.§REF§Spencer, C. S. and E. M. Redmond (2003). \"Militarism, resistance, and early state development in Oaxaca, Mexico.\" Social Evolution & History 2: 25-70, p27§REF§ Mesoamerican civilizations, including the Maya, Aztec, Mixtec and Zapotec all possessed \"a true form of writing: a series of hieroglyphs arranged in vertical columns and in many instances combined with numerals. The glyphs were at least indirectly related to a spoken language.\" Zapotec inscriptions are considered true writing, since the inscriptions had verbs.§REF§Joyce Marcus. February 1980. Zapotec Writing. Scientific American. Vol 242. No 2. Scientific American, Nature America, Inc. pp.50-67. URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.jstor.rg/stable/24966257\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.jstor.rg/stable/24966257</a>§REF§" }, { "id": 265, "polity": { "id": 527, "name": "mx_monte_alban_2", "long_name": "Monte Alban II", "start_year": -100, "end_year": 200 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Roughly 350 inscribed stones have been found at Monte Albán (including 310 danzantes) assigned to MA I and II.§REF§Spencer, C. S. and E. M. Redmond (2003). \"Militarism, resistance, and early state development in Oaxaca, Mexico.\" Social Evolution & History 2: 25-70, p27§REF§ Mesoamerican civilizations, including the Maya, Aztec, Mixtec and Zapotec all possessed \"a true form of writing: a series of hieroglyphs arranged in vertical columns and in many instances combined with numerals. The glyphs were at least indirectly related to a spoken language.\" Zapotec inscriptions are considered true writing, since the inscriptions had verbs.§REF§Joyce Marcus. February 1980. Zapotec Writing. Scientific American. Vol 242. No 2. Scientific American, Nature America, Inc. pp.50-67. URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.jstor.rg/stable/24966257\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.jstor.rg/stable/24966257</a>§REF§" }, { "id": 266, "polity": { "id": 528, "name": "mx_monte_alban_3_a", "long_name": "Monte Alban III", "start_year": 200, "end_year": 500 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Roughly 350 inscribed stones have been found at Monte Albán (including 310 danzantes) assigned to MA I and II.§REF§Spencer, C. S. and E. M. Redmond (2003). \"Militarism, resistance, and early state development in Oaxaca, Mexico.\" Social Evolution & History 2: 25-70, p27§REF§ Mesoamerican civilizations, including the Maya, Aztec, Mixtec and Zapotec all possessed \"a true form of writing: a series of hieroglyphs arranged in vertical columns and in many instances combined with numerals. The glyphs were at least indirectly related to a spoken language.\" Zapotec inscriptions are considered true writing, since the inscriptions had verbs.§REF§Joyce Marcus. February 1980. Zapotec Writing. Scientific American. Vol 242. No 2. Scientific American, Nature America, Inc. pp.50-67. URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.jstor.rg/stable/24966257\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.jstor.rg/stable/24966257</a>§REF§" }, { "id": 267, "polity": { "id": 529, "name": "mx_monte_alban_3_b_4", "long_name": "Monte Alban IIIB and IV", "start_year": 500, "end_year": 900 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Genealogical registers of noble ancestry (including important marriages, and sometimes important life events of individuals) were recorded in stone during this period. Some examples have been found in tombs.§REF§Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. p184§REF§ Mesoamerican civilizations, including the Maya, Aztec, Mixtec and Zapotec all possessed \"a true form of writing: a series of hieroglyphs arranged in vertical columns and in many instances combined with numerals. The glyphs were at least indirectly related to a spoken language.\" Zapotec inscriptions are considered true writing, since the inscriptions had verbs.§REF§Joyce Marcus. February 1980. Zapotec Writing. Scientific American. Vol 242. No 2. Scientific American, Nature America, Inc. pp.50-67. URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.jstor.rg/stable/24966257\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.jstor.rg/stable/24966257</a>§REF§" }, { "id": 268, "polity": { "id": 532, "name": "mx_monte_alban_5", "long_name": "Monte Alban V", "start_year": 900, "end_year": 1520 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Zapotec writing and counting systems were recorded by the Spanish after the invasion.§REF§Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. p92-3§REF§ Mesoamerican civilizations, including the Maya, Aztec, Mixtec and Zapotec all possessed \"a true form of writing: a series of hieroglyphs arranged in vertical columns and in many instances combined with numerals. The glyphs were at least indirectly related to a spoken language.\" Zapotec and Mixtec belong to the Otomanguean language family while the Aztec and and Maya belong to the Utoaztecan and Macro-Mayan, respectively. Zapotec writing system is considered the oldest (from c600 BCE). Zapotec inscriptions are considered true writing, since the inscriptions had verbs.§REF§Joyce Marcus. February 1980. Zapotec Writing. Scientific American. Vol 242. No 2. Scientific American, Nature America, Inc. pp.50-67. URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.jstor.rg/stable/24966257\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.jstor.rg/stable/24966257</a>§REF§" }, { "id": 269, "polity": { "id": 6, "name": "mx_basin_of_mexico_1", "long_name": "Archaic Basin of Mexico", "start_year": -6000, "end_year": -2001 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " \"Absent in the Basin, present in lowland Mesoamerica c. 100 BCE-900CE.\"§REF§(Carballo, David. Personal Communication to Jill Levine and Peter Turchin. Email. April 23, 2020)§REF§" }, { "id": 270, "polity": { "id": 16, "name": "mx_aztec_emp", "long_name": "Aztec Empire", "start_year": 1427, "end_year": 1526 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " \"Absent in the Basin, present in lowland Mesoamerica c. 100 BCE-900CE.\"§REF§(Carballo, David. Personal Communication to Jill Levine and Peter Turchin. Email. April 23, 2020)§REF§" }, { "id": 271, "polity": { "id": 13, "name": "mx_basin_of_mexico_8", "long_name": "Epiclassic Basin of Mexico", "start_year": 650, "end_year": 899 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " \"Absent in the Basin, present in lowland Mesoamerica c. 100 BCE-900CE.\"§REF§(Carballo, David. Personal Communication to Jill Levine and Peter Turchin. Email. April 23, 2020)§REF§" }, { "id": 272, "polity": { "id": 8, "name": "mx_basin_of_mexico_3", "long_name": "Early Formative Basin of Mexico", "start_year": -1200, "end_year": -801 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " \"Absent in the Basin, present in lowland Mesoamerica c. 100 BCE-900CE.\"§REF§(Carballo, David. Personal Communication to Jill Levine and Peter Turchin. Email. April 23, 2020)§REF§" }, { "id": 273, "polity": { "id": 10, "name": "mx_basin_of_mexico_5", "long_name": "Late Formative Basin of Mexico", "start_year": -400, "end_year": -101 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " \"Absent in the Basin, present in lowland Mesoamerica c. 100 BCE-900CE.\"§REF§(Carballo, David. Personal Communication to Jill Levine and Peter Turchin. Email. April 23, 2020)§REF§" }, { "id": 274, "polity": { "id": 9, "name": "mx_basin_of_mexico_4", "long_name": "Middle Formative Basin of Mexico", "start_year": -800, "end_year": -401 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " \"Absent in the Basin, present in lowland Mesoamerica c. 100 BCE-900CE.\"§REF§(Carballo, David. Personal Communication to Jill Levine and Peter Turchin. Email. April 23, 2020)§REF§" }, { "id": 275, "polity": { "id": 11, "name": "mx_basin_of_mexico_6", "long_name": "Terminal Formative Basin of Mexico", "start_year": -100, "end_year": 99 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " \"Absent in the Basin, present in lowland Mesoamerica c. 100 BCE-900CE.\"§REF§(Carballo, David. Personal Communication to Jill Levine and Peter Turchin. Email. April 23, 2020)§REF§" }, { "id": 276, "polity": { "id": 7, "name": "mx_basin_of_mexico_2", "long_name": "Initial Formative Basin of Mexico", "start_year": -2000, "end_year": -1201 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " \"Absent in the Basin, present in lowland Mesoamerica c. 100 BCE-900CE.\"§REF§(Carballo, David. Personal Communication to Jill Levine and Peter Turchin. Email. April 23, 2020)§REF§" }, { "id": 277, "polity": { "id": 15, "name": "mx_basin_of_mexico_10", "long_name": "Middle Postclassic Basin of Mexico", "start_year": 1200, "end_year": 1426 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " \"Absent in the Basin, present in lowland Mesoamerica c. 100 BCE-900CE.\"§REF§(Carballo, David. Personal Communication to Jill Levine and Peter Turchin. Email. April 23, 2020)§REF§" }, { "id": 278, "polity": { "id": 524, "name": "mx_rosario", "long_name": "Oaxaca - Rosario", "start_year": -700, "end_year": -500 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Glyphs on a stone slab (Monument 3) may refer to the name of the captive depicted there and calendric dates.§REF§Spencer, C. S. and E. M. Redmond (2004). \"Primary state formation in Mesoamerica.\" Annual Review of Anthropology: 173-199, p179§REF§§REF§Marcus, J. and K. V. Flannery (1996). Zapotec civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico's Oaxaca Valley, Thames and Hudson London, p130§REF§ Mesoamerican civilizations, including the Maya, Aztec, Mixtec and Zapotec all possessed \"a true form of writing: a series of hieroglyphs arranged in vertical columns and in many instances combined with numerals. The glyphs were at least indirectly related to a spoken language.\" Zapotec and Mixtec belong to the Otomanguean language family while the Aztec and and Maya belong to the Utoaztecan and Macro-Mayan, respectively. Zapotec writing system is considered the oldest (from c600 BCE). Zapotec inscriptions are considered true writing, since the inscriptions had verbs.§REF§Joyce Marcus. February 1980. Zapotec Writing. Scientific American. Vol 242. No 2. Scientific American, Nature America, Inc. pp.50-67. URL: <a class=\"external free\" href=\"http://www.jstor.rg/stable/24966257\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.jstor.rg/stable/24966257</a>§REF§" }, { "id": 279, "polity": { "id": 523, "name": "mx_san_jose", "long_name": "Oaxaca - San Jose", "start_year": -1150, "end_year": -700 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " The first written records in the Valley of Oaxaca are from the Rosario phase (700-500 BCE).§REF§Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (1983). \"The Cloud People.\" New York.§REF§§REF§Marcus, J. and K. V. Flannery (1996). Zapotec civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico's Oaxaca Valley, Thames and Hudson London.§REF§ Written records are therefore coded as absent for this period." }, { "id": 280, "polity": { "id": 522, "name": "mx_tierras_largas", "long_name": "Oaxaca - Tierras Largas", "start_year": -1400, "end_year": -1150 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " The first written records in the Valley of Oaxaca are from the Rosario phase (700-500 BCE).§REF§Flannery, K. V. and J. Marcus (1983). \"The Cloud People.\" New York.§REF§§REF§Marcus, J. and K. V. Flannery (1996). Zapotec civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico's Oaxaca Valley, Thames and Hudson London.§REF§ Written records are therefore coded as absent for this period." }, { "id": 281, "polity": { "id": 14, "name": "mx_toltec", "long_name": "Toltecs", "start_year": 900, "end_year": 1199 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " \"Absent in the Basin, present in lowland Mesoamerica c. 100 BCE-900CE.\"§REF§(Carballo, David. Personal Communication to Jill Levine and Peter Turchin. Email. April 23, 2020)§REF§" }, { "id": 282, "polity": { "id": 116, "name": "no_norway_k_2", "long_name": "Kingdom of Norway II", "start_year": 1262, "end_year": 1396 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Icelandic scholars copied and translated manuscripts, but fictional literature was present as well: 'But whatever advantages the union with Norway might bring, it produced no new era of development. Intellectual life continuted to flourish, and numerous literary works were written, but but a distinct decline in the quality of literary production becomes noticeable, especially towards the close of the thirteenth century. The old vigor and originality was dwindling, as the growing Christian medieval-time spirit, which was only strengthened throught a closer relation with Norway, was fostering a love for legends and chivalric romances which encouraged copying and translation rather than creative production and original scholarship.' §REF§Gjerset, Knut [1924]. \"History of Iceland\", 208p§REF§ Legal codes and royal letters also became an important tool in the exercise of government, as evidenced in the conflicts between laity and clergy and the associated involvement of the Norwegian crown: 'Upon his return to Iceland Bishop Arni, assisted by Bishop Jörund of Hólar, summoned the people of his diocese to a general council at Skálholt, where he proposed several measures of reform, among others that the churches should be made ecclesiastical property under the control of the bishops. As nearly all churches in Iceland were privately owned, this would involve a change in property rights to which the people would not readily consent. [...] the king's assistance could be invoked. [...] With threats of ban and excommunication he so intimidated the lesser landowners that they suffered to let the smaller churches to pass under ecclesiastical control. But the chieftains who owned the larger churches resolutely resisted. This was especially the case with the churches of Oddi and Hitardal, two of the largest in Iceland. Their owners refused to surrender them; but the bishop caused a decree of transfer to be promulgated at the Althing, threatening the owners with the ban if they resisted. [...] In 1273 King Magnus summoned a council to meet in Bergen to consider a new code of church laws to be proposed by Archbishop Jon of Nidaros, and to deal with other questions touching the relation between church and state. At this council, Bishop Arni, Hrafn Oddsson and the Icelandic chieftains also appeared. In the trial of their case the king as inclined to favor the chieftains, but the archbishop rendered a decision in Arni's favor. His victory was so complete that upon his return home he began to prepare a new code of church laws for Iceland, based on principles suggested to him by Archbishop Jon. The code was adopted at the Althing in 1275 with the understanding that it was later to be ratified by the king and the archbishop.' §REF§Gjerset, Knut [1924]. \"History of Iceland\", 217p§REF§" }, { "id": 283, "polity": { "id": 78, "name": "pe_cuzco_2", "long_name": "Cuzco - Early Intermediate I", "start_year": 200, "end_year": 499 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " Writing was not developed until the arrival of the Spanish. \"There was no true writing system in the Andes prior to the arrival of the Spanish, notwithstanding recent interpretations of the quipu (see Quilter and Urton 2002) and the tocapu pictograms.\" §REF§(Hiltunen and McEwan 2004, 236)§REF§" }, { "id": 284, "polity": { "id": 79, "name": "pe_cuzco_3", "long_name": "Cuzco - Early Intermediate II", "start_year": 500, "end_year": 649 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " \"There was no true writing system in the Andes prior to the arrival of the Spanish, notwithstanding recent interpretations of the quipu (see Quilter and Urton 2002) and the tocapu pictograms.\" §REF§(Hiltunen and McEwan 2004, 236)§REF§" }, { "id": 285, "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": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " Writing was not developed until the arrival of the Spanish. \"There was no true writing system in the Andes prior to the arrival of the Spanish, notwithstanding recent interpretations of the quipu (see Quilter and Urton 2002) and the tocapu pictograms.\" §REF§(Hiltunen and McEwan 2004, 236)§REF§" }, { "id": 286, "polity": { "id": 82, "name": "pe_cuzco_6", "long_name": "Cuzco - Late Intermediate II", "start_year": 1250, "end_year": 1400 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " \"There was no true writing system in the Andes prior to the arrival of the Spanish, notwithstanding recent interpretations of the quipu (see Quilter and Urton 2002) and the tocapu pictograms.\" §REF§(Hiltunen and McEwan 2004, 236)§REF§" }, { "id": 287, "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": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " Writing was not developed until the arrival of the Spanish. \"There was no true writing system in the Andes prior to the arrival of the Spanish., notwithstanding recent interpretations of the quipu (see Quilter and Urton 2002) and the tocapu pictograms.\" §REF§(Hiltunen and McEwan 2004, 236)§REF§" }, { "id": 288, "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": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " §REF§(Covey 2006, 169)§REF§" }, { "id": 289, "polity": { "id": 80, "name": "pe_wari_emp", "long_name": "Wari Empire", "start_year": 650, "end_year": 999 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " \"There was no true writing system in the Andes prior to the arrival of the Spanish, notwithstanding recent interpretations of the quipu (see Quilter and Urton 2002) and the tocapu pictograms.\" §REF§(Hiltunen and McEwan 2004, 236)§REF§" }, { "id": 290, "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": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "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’ Written records were introduced by colonial authorities and missions." }, { "id": 291, "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": "Written_record", "written_record": "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’ Written records were introduced by colonial authorities and missions, but Schwimmer's later material suggests a significant time-lag in the spread of literacy: 'For the rest, the skills acquired by Orokaiva over the last 15 years are largely concerned not directly with village development but rather with an increase of understanding of the world outside. While before the war, only a small minority had school education, the Anglican Mission spread its operations to several new stations, including Sasembata, after the war. After the eruption, the scope of education was again greatly extended and it could be said that the eruption marked the beginning of universal school education in the majority of Orokaiva villages. The Sasembata station began to draw virtually the entire child population of the surrounding villages, and most students now follow a five or six year course. While this development had been planned ever since the war, it may be significant that regular school attendance of all the villages in the district was experienced for the first time at Ilimo, where a school was conducted for the whole evacuee child population, and adult classes as well. It is the objective of present school programmes, as far as I can see, to make the population literate and the increase of literacy is a major aspect of acculturation over the period. Literacy has certainly progressed to a point where letters written in Orokaiva to any family in Sivepe can be read and understood with the help of at least a junior member of the family; and can be replied to. While I could see no evidence that people have acquired mathematical knowledge of any sophistication, I was struck by a strong quantitative orientation. In the Orokaiva language, there are no numerals higher than 2; hence, it is the invariable practise to use English numerals when speaking the Orokaiva language. The numerals are, in fact, among the main English linquistic features that have been borrowed. They are used with remarkable frequency; the number of coffee trees, the value in pounds of trade goods included in a bride price, the calculation of money prices, even the number of brothers or men who together played some role in a mythological tale (a distinctly contemporary touch, this)-all these phenomena show that “numbers” have become an integral part of Orokaiva culture. The Orokaiva use the English word “number” for a variety of quantitative concepts, including price. Finally, one must regard as an aspect of acculturation, the introduction of many [Page 80] concepts drawn from the scene of world affairs. While among the Orokaiva, I heard talk about Vietnam, Indonesia, Africa, India. The political orientation displayed was a mild kind of nationalism, and a sense of closeness to newly independent non-white states. But the information, derived from radio broadcasts and speeches by councillors, introduced an acculturative kind of perspective. Its dissemination is being actively encouraged by the Australian authorities.' §REF§Schwimmer, Eric G. 1969. “Cultural Consequences Of A Volcanic Eruption Experienced By The Mount Lamington Orokaiva”, 79§REF§" }, { "id": 292, "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": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "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": 293, "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": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "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": 294, "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": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "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": 295, "polity": { "id": 126, "name": "pk_indo_greek_k", "long_name": "Indo-Greek Kingdom", "start_year": -180, "end_year": -10 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " The Indo-Greeks straddled a crossroads of writing systems and written language traditions. Inscriptions written with the Greek alphabet, use of cuneiform in legal documents and exposure to records in Prakrit are all recorded. Further evidence is found in the Kharosthi inscriptions and the Asokan edicts. Further evidence exist of a transmissions of writing systems to other groups in the North Indian area. §REF§Neelis, Jason. Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks: Mobility and Exchange Within and Beyond the Northwestern Borderlands of South Asia. Vol. 2. Brill, 2010, pp. 98-107§REF§" }, { "id": 296, "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": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": " \"The Indus civilization flourished for around five hundred to seven hundred years, and in the early second millennium it disintegrated. This collapse was marked by the disappearance of the features that had distinguished the Indus civilization from its predecessors: writing, city dwelling, some kind of central control, international trade, occupational specialization, and widely distributed standardized artifacts. [...] Writing was no longer used, though occasionally signs were scratched as graffiti on pottery.\" §REF§(McIntosh 2008, 91-92) Jane McIntosh. 2008. <i>The Ancient Indus Civilization</i>. Oxford; Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio.§REF§" }, { "id": 297, "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": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "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": 298, "polity": { "id": 124, "name": "pk_kachi_proto_historic", "long_name": "Kachi Plain - Proto-Historic Period", "start_year": -1300, "end_year": -500 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "absent", "comment": null, "description": null }, { "id": 299, "polity": { "id": 133, "name": "pk_sind_abbasid_fatimid", "long_name": "Sind - Abbasid-Fatimid Period", "start_year": 854, "end_year": 1193 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " Examples of Arabic, Ard Nagri, Malwari, Sandhavav script found. §REF§Panhwar, M.H, An illustrated Historical Atlas of Soomra Kingdom of the Sindh pp.173§REF§" }, { "id": 300, "polity": { "id": 136, "name": "pk_samma_dyn", "long_name": "Sind - Samma Dynasty", "start_year": 1335, "end_year": 1521 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " E.g. religious, practical and scientific texts. §REF§Panhwar, M.H, An illustrated Historical Atlas of Soomra Kingdom of the Sindh pp.173§REF§" }, { "id": 301, "polity": { "id": 121, "name": "pk_kachi_urban_1", "long_name": "Kachi Plain - Urban Period I", "start_year": -2500, "end_year": -2100 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " \"Despite huge interest in its decipherment, the writing of the Harappans still cannot be read, for a number of reasons: the absence of bilingual inscriptions to provide a starting point, the stylized form of the signs, the very limited length and nature of the texts, ignorance of the language that the script was being used to record, and the fact that the script died out instead of giving rise to later scripts. In addition, the number of signs indicates that the script was probably logosyllabic; so the number of components to be deciphered and the complexities of their use and interrelations are much greater than they would be with a syllabic or alphabetic script.\"§REF§(McIntosh 2008, 356) Jane McIntosh. 2008. <i>The Ancient Indus Valley</i>. Santa Barbara; Denver; Oxford: ABC-CLIO.§REF§" }, { "id": 302, "polity": { "id": 122, "name": "pk_kachi_urban_2", "long_name": "Kachi Plain - Urban Period II", "start_year": -2100, "end_year": -1800 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Written_record", "written_record": "present", "comment": null, "description": " \"Despite huge interest in its decipherment, the writing of the Harappans still cannot be read, for a number of reasons: the absence of bilingual inscriptions to provide a starting point, the stylized form of the signs, the very limited length and nature of the texts, ignorance of the language that the script was being used to record, and the fact that the script died out instead of giving rise to later scripts. In addition, the number of signs indicates that the script was probably logosyllabic; so the number of components to be deciphered and the complexities of their use and interrelations are much greater than they would be with a syllabic or alphabetic script.\"§REF§(McIntosh 2008, 356) Jane McIntosh. 2008. <i>The Ancient Indus Valley</i>. Santa Barbara; Denver; Oxford: ABC-CLIO.§REF§" } ] }