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We can only really speak about the earliest writing we know of and that basically requires writing in stone. We have to remember that we only ever have a squin
by AlecSchueler 4y ago
We can only really speak about the earliest writing we know of and that basically requires writing in stone.
We have to remember that we only ever have a squinting view at the past because >99% not made from stone of everything has rotted.
I have no doubt that we were writing on paper-like substances long, long before rock carving, but there's simply no remaining evidence of it the we know of.
- whymauri 4y agoWild to think about the potentially countless records etched on wood that are completely lost to time.
- felipemnoa 4y agoWe were painting on caves way before that. I would argue that wall paintings were the first forms of writing. The reason for this is that wall paintings always seem to convey some type of idea or in many cases they seem to represent some type of past event. Eventually that made the jump to actual writing.
- AlotOfReading 4y agoMerely conveying ideas isn't enough to be writing in the archeological sense, you have to actually be conveying speech. So-called "full writing" is when the written language can convey any spoken sentence and vice versa. Importantly, not all drawn symbols that convey meaning are writing. Musical notation is not writing for example. There's been an open debate in archaeology regarding the extent to which rock and cave art are actually conveying speech as opposed to some other form of communication and whether these practices are even directly related to early writing traditions.