The story of writing is the story of civilization, the story of mankind. With the spread of agriculture (and a settled life) by the end of the late Stone Age, people no longer found it convenient or sufficient to express them selves by drawing pictures alone, and began to make scratches and signs instead. This was the birth of writing as we know it.
In many primitive societies, writing was considered to be a form of magic, only to be practiced by a special caste of priests. Many primitive people believed that the gift of this knowledge was a gift from the gods.
To begin with, the Chinese used simple pictures (known as characters) to convey ideas. With the passage of time, the pictures became simpler and simpler until one could no longer recognize them. They were probably the first to use brush and ink.
On the other hand, the people of Mesopotamia – Sumerian, to be precise – wrote syllables (parts of words) instead of ideas. They needed writing to record their prayers on stone tablets, but also for the purpose of business and accounting. They made wedge shaped marks upon clay, and their form of writing came to be known as cuneiform writing. From Sumeria and Babylon, writing spread throughout the Middle East. This form of writing was prevalent until the time of Alexander the Great, before the spread of Phoenician, Greek and Roman.
The early Celtic people also used runes – markings made on wood - for the purpose of writing. They also wrote on the bark of the beech tree, from which the word “book” is derived.
In the Americas, picture writings were still in use until the advent of Christopher Columbus. This form of writing was sufficient for the needs of those people. Later on, they drew signs that could be read, signs that represented words or ideas.
The Incas wrote by making knots in colored strings. Accounts and all sorts of records were kept using this method. Amazingly enough, the gigantic task of administering the Inca Empire was carried out using this method! Unfortunately, we are no longer able to decipher what they mean.
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