History of writing systems
Writing is basically a method used to record information and it is composed by glyphs (1) and through the graphics, it represents the spoken language and over time evolves in different civilization. In an effort to understand where and when writing was invented, scholars have coined two terms to simplify their quest. The first is Proto- writings; this is a system that uses ideographic or early mnemonic symbols and True-writing; which is the context of linguistic utterance that is encoded so that readers can reconstruct with some form of accuracy
(2)
. However, scholars have
tried mark the difference between pre- history and history of writing, unfortunately they are unable to determine what time exactly pre- history becomes history and when proto-writing became truewriting (3). Nonetheless, over the years numerous research have been done to understand when the writing system was first developed; in doing so, researches revealed that the first writing systems was invented in Mesopotamia (Cuneiform of Sumerians) around 3000 BCE. Despite the views that the first writing system was invented in Mesopotamia there are other researches that have refuted this claim as it is believed that writing systems were also developed independently in other parts of the world (Egypt and Indus) around the same time as in Sumerian.
There are four writing systems that are considered to have developed around the time of
3000 BCE up to 600 BCE: Cuneiform of Sumerian, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Chinese logographs and Olmec scripts. Though the writing systems may not have evolved at the same time or at the same rate they still share one thing in common. In many of these ancient societies writing was an important aspect of their culture and so it was highly revered by myths and deities so as to explain how it came about. Each society would view writing in different regards; in places such as
Mesopotamia the god Enlil was the creator of writing among the Sumerian and soon after during
the
(2)
. However, scholars have
tried mark the difference between pre- history and history of writing, unfortunately they are unable to determine what time exactly pre- history becomes history and when proto-writing became truewriting (3). Nonetheless, over the years numerous research have been done to understand when the writing system was first developed; in doing so, researches revealed that the first writing systems was invented in Mesopotamia (Cuneiform of Sumerians) around 3000 BCE. Despite the views that the first writing system was invented in Mesopotamia there are other researches that have refuted this claim as it is believed that writing systems were also developed independently in other parts of the world (Egypt and Indus) around the same time as in Sumerian.
There are four writing systems that are considered to have developed around the time of
3000 BCE up to 600 BCE: Cuneiform of Sumerian, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Chinese logographs and Olmec scripts. Though the writing systems may not have evolved at the same time or at the same rate they still share one thing in common. In many of these ancient societies writing was an important aspect of their culture and so it was highly revered by myths and deities so as to explain how it came about. Each society would view writing in different regards; in places such as
Mesopotamia the god Enlil was the creator of writing among the Sumerian and soon after during
the
Bibliography: C. Scarre. The Human Past: World Prehistory and the Development of Human Societie (2005). (2003). Date: December 1, 2014 9