Gunter Dreyer\u27s Umm El-Quaab I: Das pradynastische Konigsgrab U-j und seine fruhen Schriftzeugnisse presents comprehensively the results of archaeological diggings in the tomb U-j. It also outlines Dreyer\u27s claim to have discovered the origin of writing. The primary aspect of this review essay is to draw the attention of accounting historians to Dreyer\u27s book and to the claim therein to have discovered the earliest known writing. Since this discovery is closely connected to an accounting function (though in a somewhat different way from that of the Sumerian proto-cuneiform writing), a review of Dreyer\u27s book is well justified. Dreyer\u27s claim is based on a series of small inventory tags (identifying in proto-hieroglyphics the provenance of various commodities) found in the tomb of King Scorpion I (c.3400 B.C. to 3200 B.C.).1 Another aspect of this review is a discussion of the controversy surrounding Dreyer\u27s claim and the counter-hypothesis of accounting archaeology
