82).” According to Walter Ong, the act of communication through writing heightens ones consciousness and begins to change the way in which the writer thinks. This in turn facilitates the development of increasingly sophisticated technological advancements. Early pictographs were typically monotone and very simplistic in nature. However, as the technology evolved, humankind developed multi-hued writing media that improved the visual accuracy of the images created and subsequently improved the complexity of the message delivered. Essentially more visual detail equals a more complex symbology and abstraction. Some major milestones in the evolution of communication technology include the simplification of earlier literal depictions in the late Paleolithic era, the development of the first “alphabets” as quasi-abstract symbols representing the basic sounds of spoken language. These early alphabets were extremely complex and cumbersome until the Phoenicians developed a “totally abstract and alphabetical system of twenty-two simple phonetic signs, replacing the formidable complexity of cuneiform and hieroglyphs (Higgins, 2003).” The inhabitants of Greece and Rome adopted this system of writing which was in effect by 1500 B.C. and later developed what we know as the
Egyptian hieroglyphs were carved in stone, and later hieratic script was written on papyrus. However, Olmec glyphs was discovered on cylinders. Hence, Egyptians and Olmec had different types of writing, and different places to write.
During the Mesopotamia and Egypt times the writing systems were both similar by representing with pictures, this system was conveyed by anything other than simple nouns, and became increasingly abstract as it becomes more of an abstract concept. Cuneiform was the world’s earliest writing that was created by the Mesopotamia’s in Sumer. Cuneiform was known to develop between 3,300 and 3,200 BCE. The writing system function was both phonetically and semantically, rather than representing only from the pictures.
The earliest writing systems were pictographs that varied within appearance, structure, and meanings. Some of the earliest writing systems were used in temples, where scribes recorded amounts of grain collected, as well accurate information about seasons and rituals used in practice. As time progress, the system of writing became more sophisticate within other civilizations developing more letters in their writing systems. The Egyptians developed hieroglyphics, and other writing systems. The Sumerians developed a writing system called cuneiform that was later adapted by the Assyrians and Babylonians. Ancient people developed system of mathematics, astronomy, and calendars that regulate time and know when to harvest crops. With ancient people having the ability to write, they created great feats of literature like the famous narrative poem The Epic of Gilgamesh. Ancient people like the Babylonians also developed architecture with amazing feats like ziggurats, and famous landmarks like The Hanging Gardens of
The ancient Egyptians believed that it was important to record and communicate information about religion and government. Thus, they invented written scripts that could be used to record this
When discussing the topic of the development of early writing systems, one cannot do so without first thinking of the Mayans. The Mayans were the only ones to form the only writing system that was native to the Americas, and were also considered to be the masters of the art of mathematics. The Mayan writing system was often referred to as hieroglyphics, due to their resemblance to the method of Egyptian writing, although there is no relation. These symbols, called glyphs, were a combination of symbols used for the phonetic spelling of words today, and other characters. It is the only writing system of the Pre-Columbian New World that can completely represent spoken language to the same degree as the written language of the old world. Translating the Maya writings has been a long, and very tedious process. Some parts of it were first translated in the late 19th and early 20th century (mostly the parts having to do with numbers, the calendar, and astronomy), but major developments started in the 1960s and 1970s and kept coming thereafter, and now, the majority of Mayan texts can be read almost completely in their original languages. During the translation of the Ma...
The Cuneiform Writing System in Ancient Mesopotamia: Emergence and Evolution | EDSITEment. 2013. [online] Available at: http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/cuneiform-writing-system-ancient-mesopotamia-emergence-and-evolution [Accessed: 12 Nov 2013].
During the ancient Egyptians more than 3,00 yearlong history, they used three kinds of writings to write religious and secular texts. The basis of the two other writings is hieroglyphic. This writing was mainly used for sacred (Greek hieros) inscriptions on temple walls or public monuments (Greek glypho). Thus the word hieroglyphics. Hieroglyphics use clearly distinguishable pictures to express both sounds and ideas. The pictures could either be inscribed or drawn and often would be painted in many colors. The quality of the writing would vary from highly detailed signs to just mere outlines of them. A special form of hieroglyphics was used for the Book of the Dead, it was written in cursive...
A civilization is recognized as such by its form of written language. For this reason, the earliest civilization is recognized in the region of Mesopotamia with their language of Cuneiform. This ancient form of written language was inscribed on clay tablets that still remain in tact and are being salvaged hundreds of thousands of years later. Even more impressive than just writing the language, however, is the ancient Babylonians’ early mathematical discoveries. These were also recorded with cuneiform and recorded on clay tablets, and like the language, served as an early interpretation of mathematical principles that influence arithmetic all over the world today.
The earliest writing in Mesopotamia was a picture writing invented by the Sumerians who wrote on clay tablets using long reeds. The script the Sumerians invented and handed down to the Semitic peoples who conquered Mesopotamia in later centuries, is called cuneiform, which is derived from two Latin words: cuneus , which means "wedge," and forma , which means "shape." This picture language, similar to but more abstract than Egyptian hieroglyphics, eventually developed into a syllabic alphabet under the Semites (Assyrians and Babylonians) who eventually came to dominate the area.
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic writing is one the oldest and most interesting forms of written language developed. There is evidence of its use from before 3200 BCE and Egyptian hieroglyphs remained in use for over 3,500 years. The Egyptian name for hieroglyphs translates to “language of the gods,” although the term hieroglyph actually came from Greek words meaning “sacred carving,” which the Greeks used to define the writing found on Egyptian monuments and temples (Ancient Egypt, Hieroglyphics, n.d.).
Writing really emerged separately in three regions independently of one another. Those regions are Central and South America, Mesopotamia, and Asia. It is generally accepted that writing (Cuneiform) came about in Mesopotamia as a means of documenting transactions and keeping track of merchandises. Let's say, one mark on a clay tablet intended to be one unit of something (bushel of grains, livestock, etc.), two marks intended to be two unit, and so on. From there individuals understood that if you could represent numbers in writing, then you could as well characterize words. In this way, individuals could communicate with each other deprived of having to be physically present. The Mesopotamian form of writing progressed into all western and Middle Eastern writing form used in the present day.
"Writing, in the strict sense of the word, as has already been seen, was a very late development in human history. The first script, or true writing, that we know was developed among the Sumerians in Mesopotamia only around the year 3500 BC, less than 6,000 years ago. The alphabet, which was invented only once, so that every alphabet in the world derives directly or indirectly from the original Semitic alphabet, came into existence only around 1500 BC" (Ong, 323).
1. Budge, E. A. Wallis. The literature of the ancient Egyptians,. London: J.M. Dent & Sons,
According to array of proofs discovered in many countries all over the world by the archaeologists, it is said that Writing has been existing for such a long time and it is continuously developed with the flow of time. At the beginning, the symbols in writing systems do not have any relationship with the sound of the language which called non – phonological systems (Crystal, 1986)