The History of Writing

Undoubtedly, one of the most important developments of humankind has been writing, but often we take writing for granted and they do not think about the complex process that brought it into existence.

THE I !E TI"

"# $%ITI &

In ancient times, nobody knew that writing needed to be invented and its invention has been the result of continuous advances, through a process which has lasted thousands of years, progressively enriched by further developments. The invention of writing happened in an independent way in different parts of the world and it followed the same fundamental steps. 't the beginning, to indicate something people used its picture or a conventional sign. Then they moved on to a phonetic writing system based on the mechanism of the rebus, then they went to a syllabic writing and only at the end did they arrive at alphabetic writing.

(efore writing began

)uring the upper *alaeolithic, +,-.,,,,, years ago, people started by drawing graffiti and paintings on rocks and walls of caves. It is more or less from the same period that the oldest fragments of bones and pebbles with notches date from. Unfortunately, we do not know with certainty what was the purpose of these beautiful images of animals painted on caves, nor the purpose of repeated signs. The paintings of animals were probably connected to magical rites to foster hunting, while it seems the notches engraved on bones and stones were a way to count something, as for example the days which pass, the lunar months, or the prey captured.

/ultiple origins
There is not a uni0ue origin of writing1 it was independently born in different parts of the world. It seems the first people who wrote were the 2umerians and the Egyptians around +3,,-+4,, (5. It is not clear which of those two peoples invented writing first, although it seems the Egyptian writing had some 2umerian influence and not vice versa. They were peoples who had known agriculture for some millennia and who felt the need for a system of notation for agricultural products. Usually, sovereigns imposed taxes on their own sub6ects as agricultural products. They used these resources in order to pay for the construction of palaces and temples, to maintain the army, the court officials, the court,

etc. 'lso in the trade exchanges people felt the need to be allowed to annotate goods. The same is valid for the offers which were brought to the temples. The invention of writing closely followed many other innovations typical of the eolithic age, such as the construction of cities, the use of bron7e, the invention of the wheel, the potter8s wheel and the loom for weaving. In this period, agriculture and breeding spread and it was always more important to be able to indicate goods and persons in account documents and in commercial transactions. 9et us take some steps backwards.

2low progress
In 2yria, :,,,,, years ago, people used clay tokens of different shapes to indicate agricultural products. #or example, a token with a shape of a coin and with a cross carved on it indicated a sheep1 a conical-shaped token meant a measure of corn, an egg-shaped indicated an amphora of oil, etc. To distinguish among sheep, ram and lamb, the tokens were carved with different marks. To mean 4, sheep, people needed to use 4, tokens. This system continued to be used for some millennia. In +3,, (5, the officials of the token stores used to avoid dispersing the tokens, by placing them inside hollow clay and sealed balls ;bulla< on which they later started drawing the token it contained. 'fter +,, years, the token were abolished and the hollow balls were replaced with a flat clay tablet on which they simply carved the shapes of the tokens. These tablets were smaller and handier to use than the heavy mud balls. 2o, all previous three-dimensional ob6ects were replaced with two-dimensional tablets, more handy to be handled and to be stored.

#igure 4 - 5lay tokens used to mean farm animals or agricultural products. ;5opies made in the beginning of the III millennium '), that is 0uite awhile ago<. 'nyway, if you wanted to show .+ amphorae, you had to carve .+ drawings of amphora. 2omebody thought to simplify things by indicating first the number and then the counted ob6ect. In practice, scribes started with indicating the units with lines traced with the tip of a stylus and the tens with circular impressions obtained by pressing the bottom of the stylus on the tablet. 'fter this number, the figure of what was counted followed. In this manner, to indicate .+ amphorae you no longer needed to draw as many amphorae1 you simply had to indicate= """" III and the figure of only one amphora. This system was much 0uicker to use than the former one. /oreover, the signs which indicated numbers and those which indicated goods became two different systems of signs= the accounting system and the writing system. If it was comparatively easy to mean agricultural products with a drawing or with a conventional symbol, it was more difficult to write the name of a person. To solve this problem, somebody thought of using short words, mono or bi-syllabic, and to unite them in the same way we are doing today with the rebus. 2o, around +,,, (5, other signs were introduced which were not used to mean an ob6ect, but rather a sound ;phonograms<. #or example, in 2umerian the head was named >lu> and the mouth >ka>. (y reading one after the other as phonograms the drawing of the head and that of the mouth, it was possible to obtain the name of >9uka> ;>9uke><. $ith this important innovation, it was also possible to write the name of persons who were involved in the transaction and not 6ust the goods. *eople were also allowed to write abstract words. 2everal centuries passed before somebody had the idea to use writing for different uses from the accounting ones. "ne of the oldest funerary 2umerian scripts dates from 4?,,@4A,, (5 and it indicates the name and the title of the dead person. In 4.,, (5, a 2umerian sovereign described his own exploits in a long text. In 4,,, (5, writing was used for legal purposes, for literature and school texts, etc. 2umerian writing was a mixed system which used conventional symbols, some of which depicted ob6ects and other meant sounds.

5uneiform writing
The term cuneiform writing comes from the fact it is composed of signs that look like small wedges, in 9atin= cuneus. Bet, in the beginning cuneiform writing was not at all composed of wedges and on the clay tablets scribes engraved the shape of the designated ob6ects and the possible numerical signs.

Usually, the domestic animals and the agricultural products were represented by conventional signs, while for other ob6ects and wild animals they used drawings that represented their distinctive characteristics. Unfortunately, when scribes were carving clay with a pointed tip they caused chips and detachment of clay fragments. This re0uired continuous cleaning of the drawings while they were carved on the tablets. To avoid this mishap, they began to impress straight marks by mean of a stylus. 's a conse0uence, the drawings were altered. 5urves were replaced with straight marks and the figures lost their realism. "ver the centuries, the pictograms used by the /esopotamians underwent a process of schemati7ation. In the end, the figures were unrecogni7able. They became abstract symbols. Their meaning was no longer tied to the original picture which people were no longer able to recogni7e ;figure +<. 's I said, the writing that was born for administrative purposes was enriched by symbols having a phonetic value which allowed writing of words that were not possible to represent with a picture, such as the personal names and abstract concepts. This writing was enriched by figures that depicted natural ob6ects, actions, etc. The writing system which developed was mixed, containing pictograms and phonograms, as well as numeric signs.

5uneiform writing spread to a good part of the ancient /iddle East and was used by many different peoples such as the 2umerians, 'kkadians, (abylonians and 'ssyrians. /ost of these peoples spoke 2emitic languages, yet the cuneiform system was used also by people who spoke Indo-European languages, such as the Hittites. It was used also by the Egyptians to communicate with the princes of the eastern coasts of the /editerranean sea. 5uneiform writing lasted millennia until replaced by alphabetic writing, which was much easier to learn and to use. However, cuneiform writing did not disappear as soon as alphabetic writing became available. It survived for many centuries because the scribes considered it superior for expressing shades of thought and of language.

Hieroglyphic writing
The origin of the hieroglyphic writing was nearly contemporary to the cuneiform one. It did not evolve in the cuneiform structure, but it kept a pictographic representation of the signs. *robably, this was due to the fact the Egyptians did not use clay as a support for writing, but papyrus, wood and rock walls such as those of the temples. )uring its evolution, the hieroglyphic writing was influenced by the 2umerians, but it developed in a completely original way. Its symbols were derived from ob6ects of the Egyptian world and often they were represented sideways. Unlike the 2umerian writing, which for a long time was used in account documents only, very soon the Egyptian one was used for writing, so the Egyptians started using the sheer writing long before the 2umerians. 's the 2umerians did, the Egyptians used pictograms to indicate ob6ects and other to represent sounds. The Egyptian language was not exactly 2emitic, but when they wrote Egyptians used mainly the consonants. 'ccording to the number of the consonants they represented, the phonograms have been separated into four-letter, three-letter, two-letter and one-letter. In virtue of the wide use of these phonograms, the hieroglyphic writing was by the most part phonetic. 9ater on, the phonograms made up of only one letter were called >alphabetic signs>. #rom the beginning, the Egyptians had the letters of the alphabet and they commonly used these signs among the others. They would have been allowed to use a writing purely alphabetic at once, but they did not it because they always preferred to use the rich inventory of hieroglyphs they were provided. (y using phonograms, pictograms and determinatives, the hieroglyphic writing too was a mixed writing.

The term hieroglyph is &reek and it means sacred writing, in fact for the Egyptians the writing was divine. If you think that when we are reading we hear a voice in our mind, you can well imagine how this surprising phenomenon could be considered divine in those times. #or the Egyptians, the hieroglyphic scripts was sacred and its symbols kept the properties of the ob6ects that they refer to, so they were alive, magical, they exerted an influence and a power of their own. Egyptians were allowed to write the same things by choosing different symbols. (y means of the mythological references which it was possible to find in the symbols they used, their writing was enriched with meanings and shades that it was not possible transmit or obtain from the alphabetic writing. In principle, every word was made up of three parts= the first one was formed by phonetic signs or phonograms that suggested the pronunciation of #igure . - *upils of a school of scribes. *erhaps the word, the second one ;which was often omitted< was composed by a pictogram which represented they the ob6ect, the third one was composed by a were intent on writing something down as a determinative that indicated the area topic of dictation. which they were speaking about. This determinative helped the right interpretation of the word, not 6ust to indicate the end of it. The hieroglyphic writing was at the same time phonetic, figurative and symbolic. "ften the Egyptians fused scenes of life of the *haraoh or even of ordinary people with the hieroglyphic writing, and in a very modern way writing and images trespassed on one another, enlightening each other. The hieroglyphic writing was used from +,+,, (5 until +C. '), so for nearly .,,,, years. In #igure 3, you can see an example of a hieroglyph. The first two signs are phonograms. The mouth like sign indicates % and the circular one indicates DH. The word is read %EDH, which in old Egyptian meant to know. The pictogram is lacking. The determinative is a rolled papyrus, which means abstraction. In bibliography, you can find a text which explains how to read and write hieroglyphs.

' and ( linear scripts

In the fist half of the II millennium (5, the /inoans of 5rete used a writing which has not yet been deciphered= the Linear A, of clear Egyptian derivation. $hen /ycenaean people con0uered 5rete, they adopted the 9inear ' to write in their own language, the ancient &reek. This writing, named Linear B, replaced the preceding one. (oth these writings were written on clay tablets, but they were not cuneiform. They used syllabic characters and they did not have anything to do with alphabetic writings. The 9inear ( disappeared because of the destruction of the /ycenaean palaces that happened in the EIII and EII centuries (5. In that period, the great civili7ations of the bron7e age, of the 'egean sea and of the ear East, suddenly collapsed. 5enturies of serious difficulties followed and the population of that area drastically lowered. &reece rediscovered the writing only . centuries after, with the arrival of the *hoenician alphabet.

'lphabetic writings
In the /iddle East, people found widespread proof of attempts at simpler writing by rapport to the cuneiform and the hieroglyphic ones. In the EI! century (5, in Ugarit, a town on the 2yrian northern coast, a cuneiform alphabet was developed. The alphabetic Ugaritic writing was used until the

destruction of the town, in ::F, (5. 'nother cuneiform alphabet was used to write in ancient *ersia ;modern day Iran< in 3,, (5.

The *hoenician alphabetic writing

ow, imagine that around :C,, and :F,, b.5. you are a miner and you are working in a copper and tur0uoise mine for the Egyptians. "ften you see hieroglyphs and you know they are a form of writing, but you are not able to read them, besides you speak a 2emitic language, different to that of Egyptians. Bou want to draw a votive inscription to the &ods so that they protect you in your dangerous 6ob, but you do not know how to do this. $hile observing hieroglyphs, you had the idea of using some of them to indicate songs. In order to better remember them, each figure will indicate the first song of its name ;acrophony<. #or example, the ox8s or the bull8s ;in 2emitic 'alpu< head to indicate the A letter ;now it is oriented with the mu77le upward and the horns downward<, the house plant ;in 2emitic betu< to indicate the b, the palm of the hand ;kappu< to indicate the k, the water ;mayyuma< to indicate the m and so on ;#igure ?<. In this way, you will have a writing system composed of only 44 signs. (ecause of its simplicity, this writing system can be learnt by anybody and it does not re0uire the years of study needed to learn the complex cuneiform and hieroglyphic writings. The signs employed in this writing system were named letters. The collection of letters was called an alphabet and the writing systems that use signs of this kind ;acrophonic< were named alphabetic systems. This writing was also used by workers occuped in the construction of palaces and temples, by mercenaries in the *haraoh8s pay, and also by merchants. The inscriptions of $adi el-Hol, which are one of the first example of alphabetic writing from which will come the *hoenician one, was carved between :C,, and :F,, b.5. on a rocky wall along a military and trade road linking 'bidos and Thebes in the Dings valley. This writing, named by the archaeologists Proto-Sinaitic because its first inscriptions were found in copper and tur0uoise mines of the 2inai *eninsula, was used by people of low social standing in order to write short inscriptions. 9ittle by little this writing, also known as *roto-5anaanite, spread and later it was used by the *hoenicians. (y observing #igures A and ?, you can see how many signs of that ancient writing are similar to those we use today. In fact, our alphabet 6ust comes from the *roto2inaitic one. )uring the centuries, these letters have been modified and further have been added. $e can say that each letter of our alphabet has a history of its own.

The cuneiform and hieroglyphic writings comprised many hundreds of symbols and so they were complex to learn and also difficult to use. They were reserved to a caste of specialists, the scribes. "n the contrary, because of its low number of signs the alphabetic writing is much simpler and it can be easily learnt and used by everybody. Unlike the cuneiform writing which had to be engraved on clay tablets, the 2inaitic alphabet and afterwards the *hoenician one, could be written with ink on papyrus, earthenware pieces and wood. Therefore, the alphabetic writing fitted well to the needs of the

*hoenician, a people of traders and sailors, by putting at their disposal a writing system simple to learn and 0uick to use.

)iffusion of the *hoenician alphabet

&reeks were among the first peoples to obtain the *hoenician alphabet. In fact, &reeks and *hoenicians were geographically close and they were actively trading between themselves, as well as other /editerranean peoples. &reeks frankly allowed the *hoenician origin of their alphabet and they called its signs Phoinikeia Grammata, *hoenician letters. The first proof of the *hoenician scripts date from the EII and EI centuries (5, but its transmission to the &reeks seems to date from the !III century (5. *hoenician language was 2emitic and its alphabet was composed by consonants only. In a 2emitic language, the use of consonants only is enough to correctly interpret a text. $hilst reading, the context helps to reduce the ambiguities and in some cases people add little signs to indicate vowels. "n the contrary, with the ancient &reek language, as well as in all Indo-European languages, it was not possible to write by using consonants only because people would encounter an excessive amount of ambiguities. 'lso in English, if you write without using vowels you would obtain a very imprecise text. #or example the word >rd> could be road, reed, read, raid, etc. #aced with this problem, the &reeks adapted some letters of the *hoenician alphabet with some similar to the &reek vowels to suit their needs. In this way they introduced the use of vowels in the alphabet. The first proof of short scripts in Italy date from the !III century (5, but only near ?,, (5 do the Etruscan inscriptions became numerous. The Etruscans also adapted the &reek alphabet to their own language by changing the shape of lots of the signs. 2uccessively, the Etruscan alphabet passed to the 9atins who adapted it in their turn. The 9atin alphabet was then exported in all countries of the %oman Empire, but the oriental regions kept using the &reek alphabet. In the beginning, the 9atin alphabet was composed of the capital letters only, but with ordinary use developed a cursive writing and in the /iddle 'ges lower case was introduced. The 9atin alphabet was spread through the whole of Europe and, after the big geographic discoveries, carried to 'merica and "ceania. /any countries such as the !ietnam, *hilippines and Indonesia adopted the 9atin alphabet. In :C4F, Turkey replaced the 'rab alphabet with the 9atin one. 'fter the fall of the (erlin wall, other countries with language similar to the Turkish replaced the 5yrillic alphabet with the 9atin one.

#igure F - &irl with stylus and tablets. #resco found in *ompei.

The &reek alphabet had a wide diffusion in the Hellenistic world, but today it is confined to &reece. )ue to the importance of ancient &reek literature and philosophy, the ancient &reek alphabet and language are again studied in many countries of the world. In the IE century '), the bishop 5yril adapted the &reek alphabet for the 2lavic languages. This alphabet spread to the %ussians and the other orthodox 2lavic peoples who called it Cyrillic. /any countries of the $arsaw *act adopted that alphabet. Through the 'ramaic, also the 2yrian, Hebrew, 'rabic and *ersian scripts derive from the *hoenician alphabet and are consonant writings. /ost Islamic countries use the 'rab alphabet.

"ther writings
The oldest traces of 5hinese scripts date from the 2hang dynasty ;:3,,-:,4F (5<. 5hinese writing is composed of signs that in the same time have a semantic and a syllabic value. Its evolution was similar to the cuneiform and hieroglyphic writings, but it never attained the alphabetic stage. Usually, in this

writing each ideogram combines a semantic indication with a phonetic one. That is each ideogram does not limit itself to indicate something, but it also suggests the pronunciation. 't the beginning, 5hinese writing had a religious function, and then it was mainly used for administrative purposes and for literary texts. In order to understand this writing, you need to know around a minimum of 4.,, characters but the total amount of ideograms is much higher. In :?:A, a dictionary of .?,,.+ characters was drawn up. In /exico, writing appeared around ?,, (5. It seems that the /aya derived their writing from an older writing, used by other peoples. The /aya8s writing was syllabic and was used to describe the most important events which concerned the aristocratic families. Towards 43, '), the /ayan writing was already used and it lasted until the E!II century '). ow, its scripts are actively deciphered. ' lot of other writings have been composed during history and in different parts of the world. Unfortunately, in this introductory article we cannot deal with all of them and with some books indicated in the bibliography you could fulfill any wish to deepen your understanding of the sub6ect. The history of writing is a riveting and much more complex topic than I have described it to you. It is worth reading more aboutG

Experiments on writing
$hen I tell you to write sentences, you can either invent or copy them from books and maga7ines. In the rebuses, in the syllabic and in the mixed scripts, some imprecision is allowed. : - '55"U TI & $ith reference to the figure C, how much amphorae are indicated in +H 4 - %E(U2 In order to practise the mechanism of rebus= - by referring to #igure C, solve the rebus in ., 3, A, ?1 - solve rebuses you find in maga7ines or in Internet1 - with figures used as phonograms, write words or sentences. 2ome approximations are allowed. Bou are also allowed to integrate the sentences with some letters of the alphabet. + - 5" 2" ' T $%ITI & - $hich words do you read in the following examplesH :. - brbr ;person name< 4. - th llw sbmrn1 whn th snt g mrchg n1 +. - mmml1 .. - th 0ck brwn fx 6mps vr th l7y dg1 3. I chrstms dy s th twnty ffth f dcmbr1 A. I bcycls hv tw whls bt trcycls hve thr1 ?. - by using consonants only, write some sentences. 'sk a friend to read them and check their readability. )iscuss the possible ambiguities. F. - by using vowels only, do the same thing.

. - HIE%"&9B*HI5 $%ITI & - $rite words with the hieroglyphic writing ;only for those who read the book J:K< 3 - '9*H'(ETI5 $%ITI &2 $ith reference to the site indicated, - by using the Ugaritic alphabet, write names and words http=@@www.omniglot.com@writing@ugaritic.htm Ugaritic alphabet - by using the Egyptian alphabet, write names and words http=@@www.fortunecity.com@victorian@barchester@?C@idA.htm Egyptian alphabet - by using the *roto-2inaitic alphabet, write names and words http=@@en.wikipedia.org@wiki@*roto2inaiticLalphabet *roto-2inaitic alphabet - by using the *hoenician alphabet, write names and words http=@@www.crystalinks.com@phoenician.html *hoenician alphabet - by using the &reek alphabet, write names and words http=@@www.omniglot.com@writing@greek.htm &reek alphabet If necessary, you can also use this table= http=@@www.peak.org@M6eremy@dictionary@chapters@pix@alphabet.gif If possible, make the exercises with the Ugaritic alphabet on clay tablets. If the pages are not longer working, look for some other pages with the keyword indicated in the end of each row. A - ' E$ '9*H'(ET - If each symbol represents the first song of its name and by referring to the figure C, which word is wrote in :,H - #ollowing the *roto-2inaitic example and by basing yourself on the system of acrophony, invent an alphabet by using symbols drawn from the world of today. #or example a house for the letter H. Use this alphabet to write words and sentences. - 2implify these letters and try to obtain a block letters writing with capital and small letters. If you made it with other classmates, you will have a writing that the others would be able to read, otherwise only you will be able to read it. In this case it could be useful to you to write messages or notes without other people being able to read them. 2o, this writing will preserve a little of the magic character of the ancient writings and it will keep silent towards those who do not know its secret. ? - 9"&I5'9 *%"*"2ITI" 2 - Try to write with logical propositions ;only for students of high schools<. F - T%E'2U%E HU T "rgani7e a treasure hunt in which the instructions for each stage and all or some 0ui77es are based on the example of the Experiments on $riting of this section. C - $%ITI & E/"TI" 2 )uring conversations on the Internet ;made with the keyboard and screen< the first Internauts reali7ed that the sentences they wrote could be misunderstood. In not being able to see the other person, it was not possible to observe his gestures that usually accompany the speech. /oreover, it was not possible to see the expressions of the face, nor the voice intonation. To avoid this problem, some internauts began to follow their sentences by smiles ;or smileys or emoticons< written with the usual alphabet and punctuation characters ;see below<. These symbols 0uickly spread and they are again often used by the cybernauts during their conversations. 'lso those who send messages with their mobile phones use them fre0uently. The use of these smiles has gone further than their initial purpose and now they are used also to express, in a 0uick way, emotions and sentiments that otherwise would be expressed by words and by using long sentences. "bviously, a smile is not enough for a declaration of love, but your presence will be essential and you should also be able to find the right words. "n the contrary, in many other cases the smiles are a valuable help. The idea of writing the emotions is interesting. In some way, it is an innovation in the writing. (esides the exercises INve suggested, you could also study the problem of writing emotions and arrange it in a better way. #or example, check if the main emotions are present and suggest symbols for those which are lacking. These smiles are not again entered in the conventional writing and who knows if they never will enter in it. 2ome examples of smiles= ==-O normal ==-< smile ==-; sad #or more smiles= http=@@www.astro.umd.edu@Mmarshall@smileys.html The 5anonical 2miley ;and :-9ine 2ymbol< 9ist http=@@en.wikipedia.org@wiki@Emoticon Emoticon ;$ikipedia< http=@@www.businessweek.com@bwdaily@dnflash@apr4,,:@nf4,,:,.4+L?F3.htm The /an $ho (rought a =-< to Bour 2creen

- $rote sentences and end them with the expression of emotions by means of smiles. $ith some companions, evaluate and discuss how the use of these smiles changes the meaning of the sentences. - Invent some ideograms to indicate the main emotions to be used in a mixed writing. %emember that with the computers it is possible to compose and use personali7ed characters. Bou can also draw little images and put them the one after another.

5" 59U2I"
'fter you have taken a look at the history of the writing, writing is no longer a banal and anonymous fact like it was before1 it becomes something of much more interest. Bou reali7e that each letter has a history of its own which often dates from thousands of years ago. ow, the letters of the alphabet say hallo to us. The ' says us= >Hello, do you remember meH I8m the bull head>, the ( says us= >'nd I8m the house>, the / says us= >I8m the waves of the sea>, the says= >I8m the snake>, etc. (y means of all the times and the peoples they have passed, these letters tell us about the ancient Egyptians, about the 2emitic people who were working in the Ding !alley in Egypt, about the *hoenicians, the &reeks, the Etruscans and finally about the %omans. The small letter, tell us of the amanuensis monks and, with the cursive writing they talk us of the more recent times, when they developed many different styles. The history of the writing is much more complex that I have suggested. Unfortunately, I have been obliged to keep myself to the essential things to avoid to turn this article into a book, but in order to exhaustively narrate the history of the writing even a book would not be enough. I hope you obtained the will to know more on this topic. %emember there are many books on this sub6ect. (esides, also the Internet provides many documents on this important venture of mankind.

(I(9I"&%'*HB
(ooks= : - 5hristian Pac01 How to %ead Egyptian Hieroglyphs, ' 2tep-(y-2tep &uide to Teach Bourself Internet *ages= : - http=@@www.usc.edu@dept@9'2@wsrp@information@wadiLelLhol@ Inscriptions of $adi el-Hol 4 - http=@@www.peak.org@M6eremy@dictionary@chapters@pix@alphabet.gif )evelopment of the alphabet letters + - http=@@www.ancientscripts.com@ws.html 'ncient 2cripts . - http=@@www.6imloy.com@egypt@egypt.htm Pim 9oy8s Egyptian Hieroglyphics and Egyptology *age 3 - http=@@www.egyptvoyager.com@hieroglyphLarchives.htm Hieroglyphs 9essons A - http=@@en.wikipedia.org@wiki@/iddleL(ron7eL'geLalphabets (irth of the alphabet ? - http=@@www.asor.org@outreach@Teachers@)ig)eeper@)iggingL)eeper:.htm 'rchaeology 'ctivities for Dids F - http=@@www.ancientscripts.com@sumerian.html 5uneiform signs C - http=@@en.wikipedia.org@wiki@Image=DielitynkQkuva.png 'lphabets :, - http=@@www.apples.theteacher.com@coloring-pages@interactive-alphabet@index.html 9etters of the alphabet ;pictures< :: - http=@@www.tug.org@TU&boat@'rticles@tb4A-+@tbF.wilson.pdf The 'lphabet Tree. ' magnificent description of the historical development of the main alphabets with very fine reproductions of the letters. Internet keywords= history writing, clay tablets, cuneiform writing, Egyptian writing, hieroglyphs, *roto-2inaitic, *roto5anaanite, Ugaritic alphabet, Egyptian alphabet, *roto-2inaitic alphabet, *hoenician alphabet, &reek alphabet, Etruscan alphabet, rebus, token, bullae. 2"9UTI" 2 T" THE RUE2TI" 2 "# #I&U%E C= + = 4+ . = wall S king T walking 3 = nail S sun T eilson ;family name< A = wick S field T $ickfield ;family name< ? = pin S up T pinup F = house S eclipse S leaf S leaf S onion T hello
http=@@www.funsci.com@fun+Len@writing@writing.htm