The history of writing traces the development of writing systems and how their use transformed different societies. The use of writingas well as the resulting phenomena of literacy and literary culture in some historical instanceshas had myriad social and psychological consequences.
Each historical invention of writing, the first being within the last 6,000 years, emerged from systems of proto-writing that used ideographic and mnemonic symbols but were not capable of fully recording spoken language, and only a subset of spoken languages have been represented in writing. True writing, where the content of linguistic utterances can be accurately reconstructed by later readers, is a later development. As proto-writing is not capable of fully reflecting the grammar and lexicon used in languages, it is often only capable of encoding broad or imprecise information.
Early uses of writing included documenting agricultural transactions and contracts, but it was soon used in the areas of finance, religion, government, and law. Writing allowed the spread of these social modalities and their associated knowledge, and ultimately the further centralization of political power.
Terminology Writing systems typically satisfy three criteria. Firstly, writing has some purpose or meaning to it. Secondly, writing systems make use of specific symbols which may be recorded on some writing medium. Thirdly, the symbols used in writing generally correspond to elements of spoken language. In general, systems of symbolic communication like signage, painting, maps, and mathematical notation are distinguished from writing systems, which require knowledge of an associated language to read a text.
The norms of writing generally evolve more slowly than those of speech; as a result, linguistic features are frequently preserved in the written form of a language after they cease to appear in the corresponding spoken language.
Origin of symbolic representations
If the inclusive reading of writing is taken to include engraving, inscription and mural-type drawings in caves, then the history of writing receives a significantly more broad historical basis. A shell engraved by Homo erectus was determined to be between 430,000 and 540,000 years old. A set of eight 130,000 years old white-tailed eagle talons bear cut marks and abrasion that indicate manipulation by neanderthals, possibly for using it as jewelry. A series of tiny, drilled snail shells about 75,000 years old—were discovered in a South African cave. Containers that may have been used to hold paints have been found dating as far back as 100,000 years.
Lascaux is used as a brief description of the "Lascaux Cave", which is a network of caves near the village of Montignac, in the department of Dordogne in southwestern France. Over 600 parietal wall paintings cover the interior walls and ceilings of the cave. The paintings represent primarily large animals, typical local contemporary fauna that correspond with the fossil record of the Upper Paleolithic in the area. They are the combined effort of many generations. With continued debate, the age of the paintings is now usually estimated at 18,000 to 22,000 years (early Magdalenian), well before the representational use of symbolic depictions of human speech.
Emergence
Before the 20th century, most scholarly theories of the origins of writing involved some form of monogenesis, the assumption that writing had been invented only once as cuneiform in ancient Sumer, and spread across the world from there via cultural diffusion. According to these theories, writing was such a particular technology that exposure through activities like trade was a much more likely means of acquisition than independent reinvention. Specifically, many theories depended on a literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis, and reflect the relative focus given to locations in Mesopotamia in the Genesis narrative. Over time, greater awareness of the systems of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica conclusively established that writing had been independently invented multiple times. Four independent inventions of writing are most commonly recognizedin Mesopotamia , in Egypt , in China before , and in Mesoamerica before .
According to statistical research in 2026, carved symbols and markings from Stone Age Germany from around 40,000 years ago have similarities to early Mesopotamian proto-cuneiform symbols and could be the earliest known precursors to writing systems.
Sumerian cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs both gradually evolved from proto-writing between 3400 and 3100 BC, with the earliest coherent texts appearing . Regarding Egyptian hieroglyphs, scholars point to very early differences with Sumerian cuneiform "in structure and style" as to why the two systems "[must] have developed independently", and if any "stimulus diffusion" of writing did occur, it only served to transmit the bare idea of writing between cultures. Due to the lack of direct evidence for the transfer of writing, "no definitive determination has been made as to the origin of hieroglyphics in ancient Egypt."
During the 1990s, symbols inscribed between 3400 and 3200 BC were discovered at Abydoswhich initially caused some scholars to doubt the assumption that the Mesopotamian sign system predated the Egyptian one. However, scholars have noted that the attestation at Abydos is singular and sudden, while the gradual evolution of the Mesopotamian system is lengthy and well-documented, with its predecessor token system used in agriculture and accounting attested as early as 8000 BC.
The Proto-Elamite script is also believed to have been used during this period, though Proto-Elamite inscriptions "have been, and will remain, highly problematic in a discussion of writing because they represent a very unclear period of literacy".
There is no evidence of contact between the Chinese Shang dynasty () and the literate civilizations of the Near East, and the methods of logographic and phonetic representation in Chinese characters are distinct from those used in cuneiform and hieroglyphs. As such, written Chinese is considered to be an independent development.
Proto-writing
In each case where writing was invented independently, it emerged from systems of proto-writing, which used ideographic and mnemonic symbols to communicate information, but did not record human language directly. Historically, most proto-writing systems did not produce writing systems; the earliest writing dates to the Early Bronze Age (3300–2100 BC), but proto-writing is attested as early as the 7th millennium BC. Examples of proto-writing during the Neolithic and Bronze Age include: The Jiahu symbols carved into tortoise shells, found in 24 Neolithic graves excavated at Jiahu in northern China and dated to the 7th millennium BC. The majority of the signs uncovered were inscribed individually or in small groups on different shells. Most archaeologists do not consider the Jiahu symbols to be linked to the emergence of true writing. The Vinča symbols found on artefacts of the Vinča culture of central and southeastern Europe, dated to the 6th–5th millennia BC. Indigenous Australians used flattened or cylindrical lengths of wood as message sticks, which were engraved with symbols that conveyed complex information. As they were created with organic material, no pre-contact examples have yet been discovered, though correlations have been found between symbols in ancient Australian petroglyphs (the oldest worldwide being those at Murujuga in Western Australia, which date to 40,000–50,000 years ago) and those used on message sticks. The Indus script (), found on different types of artefacts produced by the Indus Valley Civilization on the Indian subcontinent, remains undeciphered, and whether it functioned as true writing is not agreed upon. While its origins are not visually obvious, the opportunity for Mesopotamian cultural diffusion to have introduced the concept of writing to the Indus peoples is clear.
Later examples include quipu, a system of knotted cords used as mnemonic devices within the Inca Empire (15th century AD).
Bronze Age
Cuneiform
Cuneiform writing (from Latin , ) emerged in southern Mesopotamia during the late 4th millennium BC as a means of keeping accounts. Initially, proto-cuneiform developed as a numeral system where a round stylus was pressed into clay tablets, with distinct shapes made by applying the stylus at different angles; this system was gradually augmented with pictographic marks indicating what was being counted, which were made using a sharp stylus. By the 29th century BC, writing using a wedge-shaped stylus additionally included phonetic elements which represented syllables of the Sumerian languagebecoming a general-purpose writing system which gradually replaced round-stylus and sharp-stylus markings during the 27th and 26th centuries BC.
From the 26th century BC, the system was adapted to write the Akkadian language which had spread across southern Mesopotamia as Sumerian ceased to be spokenwith Akkadian writing appearing in significant quantities . From Akkadian, cuneiform was subsequently adapted to write other languages, including Hurrian and Hittite. Scripts similar in appearance to this writing system include those for Ugaritic and Old Persian.
In 1977, archaeologist Denise Schmandt-Besserat proposed a theory that linked the development of cuneiform to a system of clay tokens used to track and exchange commodities in southern Mesopotamia from . The theory is widely contested among researchers of writing systems, with those arguing against a causal link including Geoffrey Sampson and Christopher Woods.
Egyptian hieroglyphs
Geoffrey Sampson states that Egyptian hieroglyphs "came into existence a little after Sumerian script, and, probably [were], invented under the influence of the latter", and that it is "probable that the general idea of expressing words of a language in writing was brought to Egypt from Sumerian Mesopotamia". However, more recent scholars have held that the evidence for direct influence is sparse. During the 1990s, the discovery of glyphs at Abydos dated between 3400 and 3200 BC has challenged the hypothesis that writing diffused from Mesopotamia to Egypt, pointing instead to the independent development of writing within Egypt. The Abydos glyphs, found in tomb U-J, are written on ivory and are likely labels for other goods found in the grave. While sign usage in Mesopotamian tokens is attested , Egyptian writing appears suddenly in the late 4th millennium BC.
Frank J. Yurco states that depictions of pharaonic iconography such as the royal crowns, Horus falcons and victory scenes were concentrated in the Naqada and A-Group cultures of Upper Egypt. He elaborates that "Egyptian writing arose in Naqadan Upper Egypt and A-Group Nubia, and not in the Delta cultures, where the direct Western Asian contact was made, [which] further vitiates the Mesopotamian-influence argument". Gamal Mokhtar argues that the inventory of hieroglyphic symbols derived from "fauna and flora used in the signs [which] are essentially African" and in "regards to writing, we have seen that a purely Nilotic, hence African origin not only is not excluded, but probably reflects the reality", although he acknowledges the geographical location of Egypt made it a receptacle for many influences.