EDF 1005 Reflection Paper #6

Jackie Lawrence
EDF 1005
Reflection Paper #6

Writing was first invented not only in Mesopotamia, but also in China and Mesoamerica. Scientist think it may have been formulated in Egypt as well, as evidence suggests. In Sumeria, around 3100 and 2000 BC, cuneiform was the writing system that developed and flourished, also known as wedge-writing. Scientists now know writing was developed and redeveloped in different countries around the world, depending on the language used and the culture that was prevalent. Homo sapiens drew pictures up to 40,000 years ago. Scientists suggest that the earliest forms of writing, pictographs, were used in Southeast Asia, or more specifically, Mesopotamia. The Sumerian culture used symbols impressed in clay known as “counting tokens.” This pre-writing eventually began to correlate to the spoken language, and was eventually borrowed by other countries nearby. All of a sudden, the Egyptians, the Cretans, the Elamites, and the Indus-Valley people had developed their own pretty complex system of writing.
Once Homo sapiens developed anatomically, they were able to communicate. As connections deepened, cultural systems developed further. Man was now able to claim land, develop religion, deepen family ties, and so on. Farming came into play, grain was cultivated, and beer was invented. A lot of early writings discovered by anthropologists concerned the celebration of beer and even how much each member of the community was allowed to have on a daily basis. Eventually, the Sumerians developed an alphabet using consonants similar to the Egyptian system. Later, the Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic cultures adopted this Phoenician Alphabet. The Greeks created further advancements with the utilization of vowels. This was a major stepping stone and eventually led to Latin Cyrillic. Modern day Arabic was created from the Aramaic system.
Even humans in ancient times have used information effectively to create social change, evolution, and even revolution. The invention of writing assisted in creating a division of labor, agricultural techniques, social structures, and information expansion. Writing not only helped ancient cultures blossom and begin to thrive, but it aided in providing anthropologists with precious evidence of how history went down.