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A sherd from Chiapa de Corzo dated to 300 BCE was held to be the oldest instance of that writing system yet discovered, [26] but more recently, it has been suggested that early Isthmian writing at Chiapa de Corzo even pre-dates the Epi-Olmec culture. [27] In a 1997 paper, John Justeson and Terrence Kaufman put forward a decipherment of Epi-Olmec.
More complete writing systems were preceded by proto-writing. Early examples are the Jiahu symbols (c. 6600 BCE), Vinča signs (c. 5300 BCE), early Indus script (c. 3500 BCE) and Nsibidi script (c. before 500 CE). There is disagreement concerning exactly when prehistory becomes history, and when proto-writing became "true writing". [2]
This article cites its sources but its page reference ranges are too broad or incorrect. Please help in adding a more precise page range. (July 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Survey of eight prominent scripts (left to right, top to bottom): Sumerian cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Chinese characters, Maya script, Devanagari, Latin alphabet, Arabic alphabet, Braille Part of ...
The earliest writing systems of Europe arise in the Iron Age, derived from the Phoenician alphabet. However, there are number of interpretations regarding symbols found on artefacts of the European Bronze Age which amount to interpreting them as an indigenous tradition of proto-writing.
Cuneiform scripts are marked by and named for the characteristic wedge-shaped impressions (Latin: cuneus) which form their signs. Cuneiform is the earliest known writing system [5] [6] and was originally developed to write the Sumerian language of southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq).
Early Greek was not uniform in structure, and had many local variations. The Greek lettering was written using a lapidary style of writing. Greek was written in a boustrophedon style. Scholars believe that at one point in time, early Greek scripts were very close to the West-Semitic alphabet.
Cretan hieroglyphs are a hieroglyphic writing system used in early Bronze Age Crete, during the Minoan era. They predate Linear A by about a century, but the two writing systems continued to be used in parallel for most of their history. [1] As of 2025, they are undeciphered. [2]
Egyptian hieroglyphic writing does not normally indicate vowels, unlike cuneiform, and for that reason has been labelled by some as an abjad, i.e., an alphabet without vowels. Thus, hieroglyphic writing representing a pintail duck is read in Egyptian as sꜣ, derived from the main consonants of the Egyptian word for this duck: 's', 'ꜣ' and 't'.