It is important to remember that most writing from just two thousand years ago didn't survive to us today. Due to the collapse of civilizations over time, the n

It is important to remember that most writing from just two thousand years ago didn't survive to us today. Due to the collapse of civilizations over time, the number of people capable of writing and therefore copying decaying manuscripts fell periodically. Only what the folks doing the copying felt was most important therefore survived, and many of those writings could have been changed by the transcriber (Beowulf comes to mind). While we have no evidence to support the idea that the oldest civilizations known had any form of writing, it is certainly possible that they did. It is also well-known to modern historians, anthropologists, and archaeologists that writing was often purposefully destroyed. As a new Egyptian king replaced a former, it wasn't unheard of for all mention of the previous to be completely erased. The Spanish purposefully destroyed "heathen" writings of the Maya. It is unknown how common these practices may have been in antiquity, but we know that many civilizations were quite proud of themselves and disdainful of all others.