# Denise Schmandt-Besserat · Person

> Archaeologist; author of the token theory of the origin of writing. In Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/people/FIG0DEDPC30291R/denise-schmandt-besserat  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

---

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

Person · in 1 mystery

# Denise Schmandt-Besserat

Archaeologist; author of the token theory of the origin of writing **Born 1933.**

[Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform)[1 event][1 source]

Denise Schmandt-Besserat is french-American archaeologist (University of Texas at Austin) who catalogued the clay tokens of the Near East and argued in Before Writing (1992) that they are the ancestors of the proto-cuneiform signs. (born 1933), and appears in the record of Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk as archaeologist; author of the token theory of the origin of writing.

One event on the site involves Schmandt-Besserat: Schmandt-Besserat publishes Before Writing, the token theory of the origin of the signs (1992).

One question rest in part on what Schmandt-Besserat did or said, among them “Were the clay tokens and bullae the direct ancestors of the proto-cuneiform signs?”, 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**

Archaeologist; author of the token theory of the origin of writing · 1 event

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

[Were the clay tokens and bullae the direct ancestors of the proto-cuneiform signs?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/questions/QST0DEDT894EG53/were-the-clay-tokens-and-bullae-the-direct-ancestors-of-the)Open: no answer ahead yet

## What Denise Schmandt-Besserat did 1

1992[Schmandt-Besserat publishes Before Writing, the token theory of the origin of the signs](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/events/EVT0DEDQQP32N8C/schmandt-besserat-publishes-before-writing-the-token-theory)

## Sources 1

[Before Writing, Volume I: From Counting to Cuneiform](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJ9W53AAY/before-writing-volume-i-from-counting-to-cuneiform)

SRC

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). Denise Schmandt-Besserat [Person FIG0DEDPC30291R]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/FIG0DEDPC30291R
```

**DS** No free portrait found yet
Wikimedia Commons is checked weekly

Key

**FIG** 0DEDPC30291R

Record

Person

Born

1933-08-10

Occupation

token theory

Identity

French-American archaeologist (University of Texas at Austin) who catalogued the clay tokens of the Near East and argued in Before Writing (1992) that they are the ancestors of the proto-cuneiform signs.

In

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

Version

1

Added by

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

**How this page is made.** The dates, occupation and identity line come from Wikidata (CC0); the portrait is a free file from Wikimedia Commons. Everything else is the site's own record of what this person did in the mysteries.

The record

Every record is open data. Take this one as JSON, with its links and its history.

[JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/api/v1/records/FIG0DEDPC30291R)