According to the present scholarly consensus, writing was invented independently three times on our planet Earth: in the Near East, about 3200 BC, in China about 1250 BC and in Mesoamerica around 650 BC. By ‘writing’, we mean a set of graphic marks that represent (systematically, if not consistently) the units of a specific language. The linguistic units to be represented (whether individual sounds, syllables, parts of words, or some combination of the three) are a function of the structure of the language, the needs and traditions of the society that uses the system, and the capabilities of the human brain. These three writing systems were chosen for discussion because they have been, or are being, deciphered. Because it is not known what language is represented by the Indus Valley script, another ancient writing system, it will not be covered here. In addition, clear evidence exists that these three are autochthonous. Carbon 14 dating disproves the claims that Egyptian hieroglyphics were created earlier than the Mesopotamian scripts. Of the three instances, only that in the Near
East can writing be traced to an antecedent. The signs of the Near Eastern cuneiform script derived their shape, meaning, and economic function from a 4000-year-old system of counters called ‘tokens’. The long evolution from tokens to writing can be summarized as follows (see Asia, West: Mesopotamia, Sumer, and Akkad).
World History
