All the nations that fell under the rule of the Roman Empire became literate in the first centuries of our era. Charlemagne AD had a profound influence on the development of the Latin script by establishing standards. In particular a clear and legible minuscule cursive script was devised, from which our modern day lower case derives.
The printing press invented in dramatically multiplied the dissemination of texts, introducing a new regularity in lettering and layout. The Internet catapults the alphabet into cyberspace, while preserving its integrity. Beyond the formal and structural changes undergone by writing in the course of millennia, its evolution also involved strides in the ability to handle data in abstraction. At the first stage, the token system antecedent of writing, already abstracted information in several ways.
First, it translated daily-life commodities into arbitrary, often geometric forms. Second, the counters abstracted the items counted from their context. For example, sheep could be accounted independently of their actual location. Third, the token system separated the data from the knower. That is to say, a group of tokens communicated directly specific information to anyone initiated in the system.
This was a significant change for an oral society, where knowledge was transmitted by word of mouth from one individual to another, face to face. Otherwise, the token system represented plurality concretely, in one-to-one correspondence. Three jars of oil were shown by three tokens, as it is in reality. At the same time, the fact that the token system used specific counters to count different items was concrete—it did not abstract the notion of item counted from that of number.
Certain English numerical expressions referring to particular sets, such as twin, triplet, quadruplet and duo, trio or quartet, are comparable to concrete numbers. When tokens were impressed on the envelopes to indicate the counters enclosed inside, the resulting markings could no longer be manipulated by hand.
In other words, the transmutation of three-dimensional counters into two-dimensional signs constituted a second step in abstraction. By doing away with tokens, the clay tablets marked a third level of abstraction since the impressed markings no longer replicated a set of actual counters.
The invention of numerals, which separated the notion of numerosity from that of the item counted, was a crucial fourth step in abstraction. The signs expressing the concept of oneness, twoness, etc. In turn, the phonetic units marked a fifth step of abstraction, since the signs no longer referred to the objects pictured, but rather the sound of the word they evoked.
Phonetics allowed writing to shift from a representational to a conceptual linguistic system. That is to say it enabled writing to leave the realm of real goods in order to enter the world of words and the ideas they stand for. Finally, the process that started with ideograms expressing concepts and phonetic signs referring to the sound of monosyllabic words reached the ultimate segmentation of meaning with letters.
As Marshall McLuhan defined it, the alphabet consists of semantically meaningless letters corresponding to semantically meaningless sounds. The alphabet brought data handling to a final double-stepped abstraction. The origin of the Chinese script and the development of Mesoamerican writing are still obscure. The Mesopotamian script, however, offers a well-documented evolution over a continuous period of 10, years.
The system underwent drastic changes in form, gradually transcribed spoken language more accurately, and handled data in more abstract terms. The most striking universal feature of all writing systems, however, is their uncanny endurance, unmatched among human creations. The Chinese script never needed to be deciphered because the signs have changed little during the years of its recorded existence Xigui It also always remained ideographic, merely inserting rebus-like phonetic complements in some characters.
The Mesoamerican Maya phonetic glyphs preserved the symbolism initiated by the Olmecs in the previous millennium Coe and Van Stone Finally, when the last clay tablet was written in the Near East, c. It replaced an age-old token system that had preceded it for over years; it was replaced by the alphabet, which we have now used for years. Bagley, R. Anyang writing and the Origin of the Chinese writing system. Houston Ed. The First Writing pp. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Baines, J. Visual and Written culture in Ancient Egypt. Black, J. Bennet, S. Houston eds. The Disappearance of Writing Systems pp. London: Equinox. Bonfante, G. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Malafouris L, Grasping the concept of number: How did the sapient mind move beyond approximation, in: I. Renfrew eds. Moos, M. Amsterdam:Overseas Publishers Association.
Nissen, H. From Mesopotamia to Iraq. Powell, B. Writing: Theory and History of the Technology of Civilization. He released a dove and a swallow but they did not find dry land to rest on, and returned. Finally a raven that he released did not return, showing that the waters must have receded. This Assyrian version of the Old Testament flood story is the most famous cuneiform tablet from Mesopotamia. On reading the text he … jumped up and rushed about the room in a great state of excitement, and, to the astonishment of those present, began to undress himself.
Map of the World , Babylonian, c. This tablet contains both a cuneiform inscription and a unique map of the Mesopotamian world. Babylon is shown in the center the rectangle in the top half of the circle , and Assyria, Elam and other places are also named.
The cuneiform text describes these regions, and it seems that strange and mythical beasts as well as great heroes lived there, although the text is far from complete. The regions are shown as triangles since that was how it was visualized that they first would look when approached by water.
The map is sometimes taken as a serious example of ancient geography, but although the places are shown in their approximately correct positions, the real purpose of the map is to explain the Babylonian view of the mythological world.
Thanks to Assyrian records, the chronology of Mesopotamia is relatively clear back to around B. However, before this time dating is less certain. Cuneiform tablet with observations of Venus , Neo-Assyrian, 7th century B.
This tablet is one of the most important and controversial cuneiform tablets for reconstructing Mesopotamian chronology before around B. The text of the tablet is a copy, made at Nineveh in the seventh century B. Modern astronomers have used the details of the observations in an attempt to calculate the dates of Ammisaduqa reigned B. Ideally this process would also allow us to date the Babylonian rulers of the early second and late third millennium B.
Unfortunately, however, there is much uncertainty in the dating because the records are so inconsistent. There are good arguments for each of these. Literacy was not widespread in Mesopotamia. Understanding of life in Babylonian schools is based on a group of Sumerian texts of the Old Babylonian period.
These texts became part of the curriculum and were still being copied a thousand years later. Apart from mathematics, the Babylonian scribal education concentrated on learning to write Sumerian and Akkadian using cuneiform and on learning the conventions for writing letters, contracts and accounts.
Scribes were under the patronage of the Sumerian goddess Nisaba. In later times her place was taken by the god Nabu whose symbol was the stylus a cut reed used to make signs in damp clay. The decipherment of cuneiform began in the eighteenth century as European scholars searched for proof of the places and events recorded in the Bible. Travelers, antiquaries and some of the earliest archaeologists visited the ancient Near East where they uncovered great cities such as Nineveh.
They brought back a range of artifacts, including thousands of clay tablets covered in cuneiform. For fun, ask a friend or family member to give you three numbers. Try to convert each into Babylonian numbers. Check your work online. What do you think? Is our modern mathematics system harder or easier than Babylonian math? Up for a challenge? Develop your own writing system! Sure, you already have a written language, but why not exercise your creative muscle and make up your very own?
Pretend you're a prehistoric human. What symbols might you come up with to convey basic messages to other prehistoric humans? Use what you've learned about the history of cuneiform to come up with your own unique version of symbolic writing. Share it with a friend or family member by giving them a message written in your new language.
Give them your key and see if they can decipher your message! Did you get it? Test your knowledge. Wonder Words wedge shape clay tablet blunt reed stylus script extinct literary fraction ancient cuneiform pictograph alphabetic syllabic encompasses deciphered Take the Wonder Word Challenge.
Join the Discussion. Persiah Oct 17, Why are the Cuneiform's extinct when they could have continued using them today? Oct 23, The cuneiform writing system evolved into what we use today. Elaina Oct 17, Dear wonderopolis i have one question for you who was the author from the story of who invented the caneiform sincerely yours.
Elaina thank u for your support. Hi Elaina! You can cite Wonderopolis as the author of any of our Wonders. Emmai Oct 4, Hi jenasia! We hope this Wonder helped you learn about who invented cuneiform! Oct 15, We hope this Wonder was helpful, Emmai Chontale Gormer Dec 4, I have a question, how does cuneiform impact our world today?
Dec 11, Rhiannon Nelson-Pickrell Oct 11, This is really great. I am doing a project on it so this is what I need. Oct 16, Nanfrt45r Dec 2, Dec 4, Blair Whitfield Jan 7, Wonderopolis Jan 7, Johnzell Celestine Sep 22, Well I'm doing social studies homework and I'm tryin to see who created cuneiform. Sep 24, T's Grade 3's Jan 7,
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