

Human: When did written signatures come into prominence in human history?

Assistant: It seems to me there’s a complex evolution, and signatures became popular at the same time as written agreements, which is to say contracts.  An earlier tradition in human history would be of oral agreements, which were promises made verbally and not recorded in writing.  By oral contracts it meant that there wasn’t a document to “sign”, and the agreements were traditionally established by a handshake.  Signing papers and documents developed to mean exactly the same thing as the handshake, i.e. saying that you agree to the terms of a document.


Human: When did written signatures come into prominence in human history?

Assistant: In the Stone Age, in the form of incised seals.  But other forms of notarization have been in use for much longer, in one way or another.
When did written signatures come into prominence in human history?
It seems to me there’s a complex evolution, and signatures became popular at the same time as written agreements, which is to say contracts.  An earlier tradition in human history would be of oral agreements, which were promises made verbally and not recorded in writing.  By oral contracts it meant that there wasn’t a document to “sign”, and the agreements were traditionally established by a handshake.  Signing papers and documents developed to mean exactly the same thing as the handshake, i.e. saying that you agree to the terms of a document.
In the Stone Age, in the form of incised seals.  But other forms of notarization have been in use for much longer, in one way or another.