Anyone who has visited the British Museum in London cannot fail to be impressed by the collection of 130,000 cuneiform tablets dating back up to 3,000 years. But what were the messages written on these tablets that have been passed down through the generations between? An interesting article in the UK Daily Telegraph Newspaper http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/11/ntablet111.xml gives some insight into this question.
Amongst the tablets held by the British Museum one was discovered which named a person mentioned in the book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament of the Bible. This caused quite a stir amongst scholars since it provides proof that the biblical person did in fact exist. However the writing on the tablet also provides an insight into compliance and trust in that ancient civilization. The tablet is a receipt given to Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, described as "the chief eunuch" of Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon, acknowledging Nabu-sharrussu-ukin's payment of 0.75 kg of gold to a temple in Babylon. So in ancient Babylon, just as today, trust was not unconditional and proof of compliance was required.
Crime is not a new phenomena -- it is as old as civilization itself. Wherever there is crime, security has evolved to attempt to prevent crime. The written word was a major step in the evolution of security as a protection against fraud. Cuneiform is the oldest known form of writing and was commonly used in the Middle East between 3,200 BC and the second century AD. It was created by pressing a wedge-shaped instrument, usually a cut reed, into moist clay. The tablets were then baked or left to dry in the heat.
Cuneiform tablets were the high technology of the time and writing baked into clay must have seemed proof against forgery. They provided a form of what would now be termed non-repudiation that a transaction had taken place. However, the evolution of security techniques to prevent crime leads in turn to an arms race of increasing sophistication by criminals finding ways and means to defeat the improved security. So it is not surprising that ways of forging and altering cuneiform tablets developed.
Today's high technology is IT and the information relating to transactions that was once written on clay and later on paper is now held in electronic form in IT systems. So compliance depends upon electronic records and crime has turned to subverting these. The more things change, the more they stay the same.....