Original photo by KangeStudio/ iStock
It seems there’s an unwritten rule that history best remembers the biggest names, with everyday people’s stories lost to time. But some historians believe that the first recorded name may have belonged to an average person who was likely an accountant. Discovered in what is now Iraq, a 5,000-year-old clay tablet that once recorded barley storage appears to be signed by “Kushim,” who archaeologists believe may have been responsible for counting the crop. Some historians say it’s not surprising to see the name of an ordinary person predate references to royalty, artisans, or ancient celebrities, though not all agree that “Kushim” is the oldest such record; a few researchers believe the name could have been a job title. Other tablets dated to around 3100 BCE — which list the names of two enslaved people and the enslaver — also compete for the record of the world’s oldest known names.
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It's a factThe singer was enrolled at the London School of Economics before his musical break, studying finance and accounting during the week and playing gigs on the weekend.
The region where Kushim’s tablet was found is also credited as the birthplace of written language, which emerged around 3500 BCE. The earliest known writings were scrawled in pictographs — images used for a word or phrase that generally resembled their meaning. Eventually, writing systems used more and more abstract symbols, evolving into cuneiform, which represented a word’s spoken sound and meaning. Surviving tablets have allowed historians to piece together how communication has evolved, along with clues about daily life for people who lived thousands of years ago. Some extant tablets have included recipes, receipts for boat rentals, and recorded court disputes, suggesting ancient Sumerians may have been just like us.
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The oldest recipes, inscribed in clay, are for bread and ______.
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The oldest recipes, inscribed in clay, are for bread and stew.
Bubble gum was invented by an accountant.
Humans have been chewing gum for thousands of years. In Latin America, people in Guatemala and Mexico chomped on chicle, a type of tree sap. In the U.S., Americans were introduced to chicle around the 1870s, though early gum had some faults — it was known for being particularly sticky. That’s why Walter Diemer, an accountant at a Philadelphia candy company, and his coworkers were encouraged to tinker with the formula in their free time; the bubble gum we chew today comes from Diemer’s accidental invention. Diemer was just 23 years old when he created his first batch, popular for its stretchiness and pink color (the only dye color available at the company lab). The Fleer Chewing Gum Company named the concoction Dubble Bubble and sold each piece for a penny. Diemer, who rarely chewed gum himself, would go on to be a lifelong judge of bubble-blowing contests as well as the company’s senior vice president.
Nicole Garner Meeker is a writer and editor based in St. Louis. Her history, nature, and food stories have also appeared at Mental Floss and Better Report.
