First recorded name in history – an accountant!

Dr Yuval Noah Harari wrote a fantastic bestseller called Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. In it he suggested that the first ever recorded name belongs to an accountant!

As human beings began to settle down into larger groups and Kingdoms were created someone needed to record data, including taxes and income. That meant bookkeepers and accountants took on a prominent role.

The first written text in history, more than 5,000 years ago, is believed to belong to a Sumerian accountant who made a simple record of supplies. It reads: “A total of 29,086 measures of barley were received over the course of 37 months. Signed, Kushim.”