Origins of Writing

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David Kong | May 30, 2008

HISTORICAL INVESTIGATION

TO WHAT EXTENT DID ECONOMICS ADVANCE THE DEVELOPMENT OF EARLY WRITING?

PLAN OF THE INVESTIGATION

TO WHAT EXTENT DID ECONOMICS ADVANCE THE DEVELOPMENT OF EARLY WRITING?

Babylonian cuneiform was invented around 3200 BCE.1 Tablets recovered in this language often revealed records of trade and agriculture.2 This supports the notion that economics was a significant component in the development of writing. However, it is unclear the extent to which economics advanced the development of writing between 3500 BCE and 500 BCE. Through examining Sumerian Records from Drehem (a series of cuneiform tablets from the Sumerian center for livestock) and other sources, this investigation will study cuneiform, hieroglyphics, Chinese and the alphabet in order to identify the factors that influenced their advancement. Much of the evidence will explore the functions the script had, since it is likely that the script was developed to perform those functions. By tracing the developments of these scripts and synthesizing their similarities, a general path of development shared by most writings of antiquity will be created and tested to evaluate its accuracy. If determined to be accurate, the investigation will assess the pertinence of