The act of inscribing the first distinctive signs on manufactured products and recipients of merchandise constituted the earliest example of what we call today intellectual property. More than 8000 years B.C., long before the Sumerians, the artisans and merchants of Catal Hüyük in Turkey, Jericho in Palestine, Harappa, Mehrgarh, Mohenjo-Daro and Lothal in the Indus valley already used signs, verbal or figurative marks in the course of trading with others... This study, spanning the years from the sacred, collective property of Antiquity to the Guilds and Corporations of the Middle Ages, seeks to discover marks throughout their historical context. Fortis: organic yoghurt or else a pottery mark from Antiquity? So as to be sure to avoid errors, Salvatore Di Palma offers us a veritable lesson which would cause the producers of the French TV programme "Culture Pub" to die of envy. "Confining" himself to the fluvial civilizations of the ancient world that grew in the Indus valley, on the plains of the Tigris and Euphrates and in the Nile valley, as well to the thalassocratic civilizations situated around the Mediterranean coastline and in Northern Europe, his historical and archeological research, liberally illustrated throughout the text, enlightens us on the long road to intellectual property and the consumer society of today. This colossal undertaking has led to the creation of a fascinating study.
Formatted Contents Note
Author's Note Foreword Chapter 1. The origin and types of marks 1.1. The Origin and need for markings 1.2. Types of Marks Chapter 2. Marks in antiquity 2.1. The Neolithic Period 2.2. Göbekli Tepe 2.3. Jericho 2.4. Catal-Hüyük 2.5. The Valley of the Indus: Harappa, Mehrgarh, Mohenjo-Daro and Lothal 2.6. Iran - A Proto-Elamite Civilisation 2.7. Tell Halaf 2.8. Obeid 2.9. Ras Shamra 2.10. Sumer 2.11. Aleppo 2.12. Tell Afis 2.13. Ebla Chapter 3. Marks in the Chalcolithic Age 3.1. Egypt Chapter 4. Marks at the end of the Bronze Age 4.1. Phoenicia 4.2. Cyprus 4.3. Crete 4.4. Malta 4.5. Sicily 4.6. Sardinia 4.7. Ibiza 4.8. Spain 4.9. Portugal 4.10. The North African Coast 4.11. Return to Phoenicia Chapter 5. The Iron Age 5.1. Greece 5.2. Asia Minor 5.3. Sicily and Magna Graecia 5.4. The Phocaean and Iberian Colonies Chapter 6. The Roman Empire 6.1. Rome 6.2. North Africa 6.3. Roman Spain 6.4. Gaul 6.5. Great Britain 6.6. The Other Provinces of the Roman Empire Chapter 7. The Middle Ages 7.1. Introduction 7.2. The West in the Middle Ages 7.3. The East in the Middle Ages Chapter 8. Counterfeiting 8.1. Counterfeiting in Antiquity Epilogue Bibliography