#proto-writing

[linguisticalities]

These Hunter-Gatherers Developed A System Of Written Signs Thousands Of Years Before Writing Was Invented

[battybriefs]

Doing my night time insomnia routine of hitting the Wikipedia random button and following the interesting links until I pass out.

Tonight I'm reading about proto-writing / cuniform.

I love how the Sumerians were like "this symbol looks like a little fish, so it means fish", and "this little symbol looks like a house so it means habitation."

And at some point the Sumarians were like, "Ok, now I need a cuniform for the city of Nineveh" and they're just like "Ok, hear me out. What about... fish house?"

I'm also in love with the Sumerian cuniform for head. Little dude is like -___-

[ancientstuff]

20,000-year-old cave painting 'dots' are the earliest written language, study claims. But not everyone agrees.

Stone Age dots, lines and Y-shaped marks might represent a type of proto-writing created by hunter-gatherers who lived in Europe at least 20

Lots of articles about this. It's an interesting idea, but it really needs a lot more research before it can be 'proven'. Hint: it can never be proven, but the argument for it could be made stronger (or weaker).

[possessivesuffix]

On The Origin Of Writing - Part Two

Proto-writing: Kaidā, Adinkra and Ersu Shaba

Some not-quite-writing systems you probably didn't know about before.

[timespanner]

Threads That Speak: How The Inca Used Strings to Communicate | National Geographic

One of the great mysteries of ancient Peru is that the Inca did not have a system of writing, but communicated with a system of strings tied with knots.

Quipus are made of a cotton or wool strings hanging from a main cord. The knots on the strings convey meaning through their location, direction, and type. Researchers already have a basic understanding of the numerical system incorporated in the quipus, where knots represent numbers. The hope is to move beyond mathematical operations to understanding non-numerical words or phrases from the agricultural product inventories. It is a whole new body of data to add to the Quipu Database Project and to understanding this interesting form of communication.