--- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, Jonathon Blake <jonathon.blake@...>
wrote:

> Suzanne wrote:
>
> > > (a) Does that mean it's never been tried?
> > Have *you* tried? Please quote some relevant research.
>
> I have shown blind people how tablets were made, and cuniform was
> written. The major problem was/is learning the writing system.

Thanks. This makes sense.

The relief blockprint cuneiform I saw is described here. I am not
sure what it is and I don't want to argue about it. It just seemed
like an interesting detail.

"AMAR-SIN IN NIPPUR, CALLED BY ENLIL WHO SUPPORTS THE TEMPLE OF
ENLIL, POWERFUL MALE, KING OF UR, KING OF THE 4 QUARTERS OF THE WORLD

Blockprint in blind in Neo Sumerian on clay, Nippur, Sumer, reign of
King Amar-Sin, 2047-2038 BC, 1 brick, 17x19x6 cm, originally ca.
33x33x6 cm, 9 columns, (10x11 cm) in cuneiform script.

Context: A original brick printing block of Amar-Sin is MS 2764.

Commentary: Enlil was the chief Sumerian god, whose main temple was
in Nippur.

See also MS 1876/1, Hammurabi brick, Babylonia, 1792-1750 BC"

In the Schoyen collection.

http://www.nb.no/baser/schoyen/5/5.18/

And this one.

"AMAR-SIN OF NIPPUR, CHOSEN BY ENLIL, MIGHTY HERO, THE TEMPLE OF
ENLIL, BRICK STAMP INSCRIPTION

MS in Neo Sumerian on white marble, Sumer, 2046-2038 BC, 1 brick
printing block, 18,5x10,0x3,5 cm, single column, 7 lines in cuneiform
script, with a handle on the back.

Context: Bricks of King Amar-Sin with full texts are MSS 1878 and
1914.

Commentary: Brick printing blocks are so rare as objects that there
is a theory that they were broken when a production run was finished.
Those that are known are almost never intact. There are some broken
ones from the Old Akkadian Period, including the intact MS 5106, but
made of terracotta. Until this one there were no examples of an UR
III brick printing block known at all, and the material of their
construction was a complete mystery.

The inscription is a well known one, but the last 3 lines have not
been cut, apart from the first sign in line 7. This printing block
was never used, but discarded by the scribe due to a slight chipping
to the inscription. Since the natural medium for writing at this
time, was clay, the process of impressing a block into wet soft clay
can be seen as the first known example of true printing. Some of the
printing blocks even had "movable type" so that the inscription
relating to more than one building could be accommodated with a
minimum of effort.

Exhibited: TEFAF Maastricht International Fine Art and Antiques Fair,
12-21 March 1999."

Suzanne