# Peter Damerow · Person

> Historian of science; numerical systems and the proto-writing position. In Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/people/FIG0DEDPB31WC8Y/peter-damerow  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform)[People](https://mysteriesdept.com/people)Peter Damerow

Person · in 1 mystery

# Peter Damerow

Historian of science; numerical systems and the proto-writing position **1939–2011.**

[Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform)[2 events][2 sources]

Peter Damerow is german historian and philosopher of science at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, who with Englund worked out the proto-cuneiform and proto-Elamite numerical systems and argued that proto-cuneiform is proto-writing. (1939–2011), and appears in the record of Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk as historian of science; numerical systems and the proto-writing position.

Two events on the site involve Damerow, from Green and Nissen publish the ZATU sign list (1987) to Nissen, Damerow and Englund publish Archaic Bookkeeping; Englund and Nissen publish the Uruk lexical lists (1993).

Two questions rest in part on what Damerow did or said, among them “How many distinct signs does proto-cuneiform have, and which of the ZATU and CDLI entries are variants or compounds of one sign?”, which stands open: no answer ahead yet.

Written from the site's records. [Improve it](https://mysteriesdept.com/developers)

## In the mysteries

**Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk**

Historian of science; numerical systems and the proto-writing position · 2 events

[The mystery ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform)

[How many distinct signs does proto-cuneiform have, and which of the ZATU and CDLI entries are variants or compounds of one sign?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/questions/QST0DEDT7GXF0VT/how-many-distinct-signs-does-proto-cuneiform-have-and-which)Open: no answer ahead yet

[Do the compound signs (two or more simple signs written inside or beside one another) carry meanings beyond their components, and do they behave like one sign or two in the statistics?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/questions/QST0DEDTDVCMAK1/do-the-compound-signs-two-or-more-simple-signs-written)No evidence yet: No evidence yet

## What Peter Damerow did 2

1987[Green and Nissen publish the ZATU sign list](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/events/EVT0DEDQQGDFMGN/green-and-nissen-publish-the-zatu-sign-list)

with [Robert K. Englund](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/people/FIG0DEDPAB5K3MB/robert-k-englund) · [Hans J. Nissen](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/people/FIG0DEDPAS5FZ6R/hans-j-nissen)

1993[Nissen, Damerow and Englund publish Archaic Bookkeeping; Englund and Nissen publish the Uruk lexical lists](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/events/EVT0DEDQQV68GRW/nissen-damerow-and-englund-publish-archaic-bookkeeping)

with [Robert K. Englund](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/people/FIG0DEDPAB5K3MB/robert-k-englund) · [Hans J. Nissen](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/people/FIG0DEDPAS5FZ6R/hans-j-nissen)

## Worked with 2

[RK

**Robert K. Englund**

Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk

](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/people/FIG0DEDPAB5K3MB/robert-k-englund)[HJ

**Hans J. Nissen**

Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk

](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/people/FIG0DEDPAS5FZ6R/hans-j-nissen)

## Sources 2

[Archaic Bookkeeping: Early Writing and Techniques of Economic Administration in the Ancient Near East](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDH93HGNQS/archaic-bookkeeping-early-writing-and-techniques-of-economic)

SRC

[The Origins of Writing as a Problem of Historical Epistemology](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHS8P4A8J/the-origins-of-writing-as-a-problem-of-historical)

SRC

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). Peter Damerow [Person FIG0DEDPB31WC8Y]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/FIG0DEDPB31WC8Y
```

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Key

**FIG** 0DEDPB31WC8Y

Record

Person

Born

1939

Died

2011

Occupation

numerical systems, theory of writing

Identity

German historian and philosopher of science at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, who with Englund worked out the proto-cuneiform and proto-Elamite numerical systems and argued that proto-cuneiform is proto-writing.

In

[Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform)

Version

1

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[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

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