Historic writing
The earliest form of writing
The earliest writing we know of dates back to
around 3,000 BC and was probably invented by the Sumerians, living
in major cities with centralised economies in what is now southern
Iraq. Temple officials needed to keep records of the grain,
sheep and cattle entering or leaving their stores and farms and it
became impossible to rely on memory. So, an alternative method was
required and the very earliest texts were pictures of the items
scribes needed to record (known as pictographs).
These texts were drawn on damp clay tablets
using a pointed tool. It seems the scribes realised it was quicker
and easier to produce representations of such things as animals,
rather than naturalistic impressions of them. They began to draw
marks in the clay to make up signs, which were standardised so they
could be recognised by many people.
A wedge-shaped instrument (usually a cut reed)
was used to press the signs into soft clay. This gave the writing
system its name, 'cuneiform', meaning wedge-shaped.
Cuneiform
From these beginnings, cuneiform signs were
put together and developed to represent sounds, so they could be
used to record spoken language. Once this was achieved, ideas and
concepts could be expressed and communicated in writing. Letters
enclosed in clay envelopes, as well as works of literature, such as
the Epic of Gilgamesh have been found. Historical accounts have
also come to light, as have huge libraries such as that belonging
to the Assyrian king, 
Ashurbanipal (668-627
BC).
The latest known example of cuneiform is an
astronomical text from AD 75. During its 3,000-year history
cuneiform was used to write around 15 different languages including
Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Elamite, Hittite,
Urartian and Old Persian.
While cuneiform was spreading throughout the Middle East,
writing systems were also being developed in Egypt and China.
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs
It is not known exactly where and when Egyptian writing first
began, but it was already well-advanced two centuries before the
start of the First Dynasty that sug
gests a date for its
invention in Egypt around 3,000 BC. The most well-known script used
for writing the Egyptian language was in the form of a series of
small signs, or hieroglyphs.
Some signs are pictures of real-world objects, while others are
representations of spoken sounds. These sound signs are pictures
that get their meaning from how the word for the object they
represent sounds when said aloud. Some signs write one letter, some
more, while others write whole words.
Like cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphs were used for
record-keeping, but also for monumental display dedicated to
royalty and deities. The word hieroglyph comes from the Greek
hieros 'sacred' and gluptie
n 'carved in
stone'. The last known hieroglyph inscription was AD 394.
Other scripts used to write Egyptian
were developed over time. Hieratic was handwritten and easier to
write so was used for administrative and non-monumental texts from
the Old Kingdom (about 2613-2160 BC) to around 700 BC. Hieratic was
replaced by demotic, which means popular, in the Late Period
(661-332 BC), and was a more abbreviated version. In turn demotic
was replaced by Coptic, which may have been introduced to record
the contemporary spoken language, in the first century AD.
Writing in China
In China, the earliest writing dates back to
around 1200 BC and was found at the Shang Dynasty (about 1500-1050
BC) site of Anyang. Shang kings believed their ancestors could
advise them and would use hot rods to crack pieces of polished oxen
shoulder blade or the under shell of turtles. The patterns of the
cracks were used to forecast the future.
Scribes carved questions and answers into
these ‘oracle’ bones. They might ask about the best time to grow
crops, for example. The origins of this script are unclear, but the
oldest examples are already highly-developed, suggesting it
ha
d been in use for
some time. Inscriptions have also been found on Shang bronzes from
this period.
Unlike cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs,
however, the Chinese script did not die out. It underwent major
changes and was adapted for use in other languages, but is still in
use today.
Later Chinese scripts were developed for
specific reasons. Seal script was used by the First Emperor (around
221 BC) but is still used for seals as a personal signature.
Clerical script was developed in around 200 BC for record keeping.
An easy-to-read script was used for ordinary writing and printed
books, while grass script was used when writing had to be done
quickly, such as note-taking.
Writing, or calligraphy, is China’s highest
art form. Characters must be drawn with perfect balance and
proportion and the order in which the strokes are made always
follows a set pattern.
The Chinese script still used today has
40-50,000 characters, although only around 3,000 are needed to
write a newspaper. The characters can represent a sound, a whole
word, or even a concept.
The glyphs of Central America
Across the Pacific Ocean, the Maya civilisation was at its
height between AD300 and 900. Inscriptions have been found on
monumental sculpture, public buildings, murals, pottery, shell,
obsidian, bone, woo
d, jade and screenfold books called codices. They were
only identified as a writing system by scholars during the
nineteenth century.
The majority of surviving examples of Maya writing are from the
Classic period (AD 250-900) although some date to the Late
Preclassic (400 BC - AD 250). Inscriptions record calendar and
astronomical information, and historical events such as alliances,
wars, lineages and marriages.
Maya glyphs were inscribed in blocks placed in
horizontal and vertical rows. One or more glyphs were set in each
block. It is generally read from left to right and top to bottom.
The text sometimes appears in single columns, but can appear in
L-shaped or other arrangements, such as on the carved lintels from
the city of Yaxchilán.
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