Mark (sign)

Some researchers claim that the decorations found on the shells of ostrich eggs in South Africa and dating back 60,000 years are marks of the owner.

[12] The manufacturer's marks are quite old: the ones found on Korakou culture pottery are four thousand years old, and the ones on ancient Greek and Roman vases date back to 5th-4th centuries BC.

[8] Medieval guilds set up the system of compulsory ("regulatory") marks for the craftsmen, intended to trace the defective items and punish the offenders,[16] with most typical examples provided by the bakery trade.

[19] In the fourth millennium BC, Sumerians introduced cylinder seals that had to be rolled over the soft clay to leave an imprint.

[6] Romans introduced their signacula, true manufacturer's marks, around the first century BC;[6] Byzantine maintained the tradition in their commercial stamps.