Writing is a symbol system which involves signs being made on surfaces such as paper, papyrus, bark, stone, leather, cloth,parchment, bamboo, human skin, and so on. Writing is most often described as a language-based symbol system in which the signs reflect the spoken language. Writing did not just suddenly appear: writing seems to have evolved out of earlier symbolic sign systems. These early signs are considered proto-writing.
The use of symbols is an important and universal human characteristic—language itself is, of course, the most apparent symbol system. In looking at the symbolic use of signs, there are two important things to keep in mind: (1) the actual form of the symbol is arbitrary and cultural; and (2) the symbolic meaning of the sign is shared between two or more people.
In their book The Complete Practical Encyclopedia of Archaeology, Christopher Catling and Paul Bahn explain the difference between proto-writing and a full writing system:
“Archaeologists make a distinction between proto-writing, which is the use of symbols (such as those found on ancient rock art, which convey information to those who have been initiated into their meaning) and writing systems consisting of signs that have verbal or linguistic equivalent—each sign representing a vowel, consonant, syllable or word—and that follow the same grammatical rules as spoken language.”
In many cases, perhaps most, proto-writing did not evolve into full writing.
European cave art which appeared at the end of the last Ice Age is considered by some scholars to be an example of proto-writing. Much of this art is abstract, that is, it does not seem to represent entities found in the real world. In addition, the cave art often includes negative hands (where a hand was placed on a surface and a pigment was sprayed over it—probably by mouth—leaving the unpainted handprint in the middle). One interesting hypothesis regarding these hands has been put forth by Genevieve von Petzinger, in her book The First Signs: Unlocking the Mysteries of the World’s Oldest Symbols:
“Many modern hunter-gatherers around the world have a hand sign language that they use to direct and coordinate others in a hunting party when they are too close to their prey to speak out loud. It’s possible that some of the hands on the walls may have been examples of this practice: hunters leaving simple messages for each other.”
During the Magdalian period, which is generally dated from about 15,000 BCE to 10,000 BCE, an abstract sign called a tectiform was developed. This sign has a shape like a peaked roof, hence the Latin designation tectiform meaning “roof-shaped.” Genevieve von Petzinger writes:
“The restricted use of the tectiform could mean that it was some sort of clan sign or other marker of a specific group’s identity, and it may have been that no one else was allowed to use it.”
While the Upper Paleolithic European rock art, such as the negative hands and the tectiforms, may have been intended as methods of communication and they can be considered to be proto-writing, they did not evolve into a full writing system.
One of the systems of proto-writing that archaeologists and linguists have documented as evolving into language is the small clay tokens found throughout the Mesopotamian area. These clay objects, inscribed with pictures or pictograms, date from 8000 BCE, thus predating writing. In his book Writing and Script: A Very Short Introduction, Andrew Robinson reports:
“No one can be certain of their function. The most probable explanation, widely accepted, is that they were units in accountancy.”
In his book Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia, Stephen Bertman has this to say about these clay tokens:
“From these primitive impressions of animal, garment, food, and vase shapes arose outlines of the shapes later reproduced, in more sophisticated form, in cuneiform. Long dismissed by archaeologists as trivial finds, these toy-like tokens—some as early as the eighth millennium B.C.E.—may constitute the first baby steps in the slow march toward phonetic writing and literature.”
The clay tokens were often enclosed in a kind of ball-shaped clay envelope known as a bulla (from the Latin word for bubble). According to Andrew Robinson:
“The purpose of a bulla was probably to guarantee the accuracy and authenticity of stored tokens in commercial transactions.”
The use of the clay tokens in Mesopotamia predates the emergence of writing by about 5,000 years so the tokens themselves probably did not evolve into the early cuneiform writing, but it is the idea of using pictures to record commercial transactions that may have resulted in writing.
Another example of proto-writing that may have evolved into writing is found in ancient Egypt where bone and ivory tags incised with symbols were used for identifying and counting grave goods. The symbols on these tags seem to be related to the later hieroglyphic writing system. These tags are dated to about 3200 BCE, just a century or so prior to the earliest Egyptian writing.
More Human Origins
Human Origins: Rock Art as Proto-Writing
Human Origins: Symbolism
Human Origins: Signed Languages
Human Origins: The Alphabet
Human Origins: The Mind
Human Origins: Cultural Evolution
Human Origins: The Large Brain
Human Origins: Pseudo-Archaeology