Ask Me Everything&7

Early Scripts

		«męi|	^ •	X r ^+’
1 civilization	Sumerian (lraq)	Egyptian		Chinese	Greek	Olmec (Mexico) [I
type of script	cuneiform	hieroglyphs		pictographs	alphabet	glyphs (symbols)
datę	3200 bce	3000 BCE		1400 BCE	800 BCE	500 BCE
writing method	blunt reed on wet clay	stone inscriptions; reed		scratched on bones	carved on stone	carved on stone slabs

pen on papyrus (paper)

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tarmers Im ^ _opotemia Southern , _began to

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Eight uses of early writing

^ M Keeping track of w X goods, livestock, and business deals

Writing down laws for people to obey

Drawing up lists of goods for taxation

Sending messages over long distances

Writing letters to fellow rulers

Creating works of literaturę

Keeping records of rulers and events

Writing about the UO past, the gods, and the creation of the world

When did

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scribes^toun _dae._shaped to make wedg    ^ _reed

stroke ^mar^_draW pictures in pen than to d    whtmg

^wetC'?Jrune\form(kom

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start to write?

There is no single datę—writing emerged at different times in different parts of the world. The first writing began with people carving picture signs on to wet clay, or on pieces of wood or stone (experts cali these signs pictographs). Gradually, morę signs were invented, leading to complex scripts.

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Tell me morę: Egyptlan writing

& Egyptian writing is called hieroglyphs, from a Greek word meaning “sacred carvings.”

& The Egyptians believed that hieroglyphs were invented by Thoth, the god of learning.

& There were morę than 700 different symbols, which could be read from left to right, right to left, or top to bottom.

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& Later, the Egyptians developed a faster script called hieratic, which ran from right to left.