<P> The designs of the artists who made the first coin punches were stylized with a degree of skill that could not be mistaken for common handiwork--salient and very specific types designed to be reproduced ad infinitum . Unlike the first typefaces used to print books in the 13th century, coin types were neither combined nor printed with ink on paper, but "published" in metal--a more durable medium--and survived in substantial numbers . As the portable face of ruling authority, coins were a compact form of standardized knowledge issued in large editions, an early mass medium that stabilized trade and civilization throughout the Mediterranean world of antiquity . </P> <P> Seals and stamps may have been precursors to movable type . The uneven spacing of the impressions on brick stamps found in the Mesopotamian cities of Uruk and Larsa, dating from the 2nd millennium BC, has been conjectured by some archaeologists as evidence that the stamps were made using movable type . The enigmatic Minoan Phaistos Disc of 1800--1600 BC has been considered by one scholar as an early example of a body of text being reproduced with reusable characters: it may have been produced by pressing pre-formed hieroglyphic "seals" into the soft clay . A few authors even view the disc as technically meeting all definitional criteria to represent an early incidence of movable - type printing . Recently it has been alleged by Jerome Eisenberg that the disk is a forgery . </P> <P> The Prüfening dedicatory inscription is medieval example of movable type stamps being used . </P> <P> Following the invention of paper in the 2nd century AD during the Chinese Han Dynasty, writing materials became more portable and economical than the bones, shells, bamboo slips, metal or stone tablets, silk, etc. previously used . Yet copying books by hand was still labour - consuming . Not until the Xiping Era (172--178 AD), towards the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty did sealing print and monotype appear . It was soon used for printing designs on fabrics, and later for printing texts . </P>

Are credited with developing the first known writing system