Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology => Topic started by: petelamana on 15/02/2018 12:56:41
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James Burke - archaeologist, historian, author - states in his break-through book, Connections, that the first form of writing was a symbol that represented a person's name, and a symbol that represented the contents of clay jars. He was referring to the development of grain storage in The Fertile Crescent.
Karl Menninger - mathematician, historian, author - states in his 1958 translated work, Number Words and Number Symbols, that the first form of writing took the form of tally marks, most likely on a stick or handful of clay. From these tally marks evolved cuneiform.
Disregarding pictographic representations - which researcher is correct? Or, are they both wrong?
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My initial guess would be that the 1978 book is probably more accurate than the 1958 one, but I'd try to find more recent research before I came to any real conclusions.
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It's been a while since I saw the film, but there was some speculation that markings beside rock paintings in Chauvet Cave may have indicated the painter or the hunter.
If correct, that would put it around 30,000 years ago...
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chauvet_Cave
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_Forgotten_Dreams
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James Burke - archaeologist, historian, author - states in his break-through book, Connections, that the first form of writing was a symbol that represented a person's name, and a symbol that represented the contents of clay jars. He was referring to the development of grain storage in The Fertile Crescent.
Karl Menninger - mathematician, historian, author - states in his 1958 translated work, Number Words and Number Symbols, that the first form of writing took the form of tally marks, most likely on a stick or handful of clay. From these tally marks evolved cuneiform.
Disregarding pictographic representations - which researcher is correct? Or, are they both wrong?
Burke is not an authority on the matter, but a science historian (whose degree is an MA in Middle English) who relies upon presenting the consensus view on matters (in as interesting a way as possible).
Menninger was not an authority on the matter, but - as noted - a mathematician.
I would take their views as the views of thoughtful, educated laymen, but if I wanted an answer to the question, "what was the first form of written language?", I would not use either of them as a reliable source.
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It is great to help reveal the truth about this issue.
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One of the problems with answering this question is, innovation, such as written language, could have appeared much earlier than archeological evidence. Such preliminary versions of the written language, may never be found, to get an accurate date and place for when the first written language appears. The first forms of written language could have been ahead of its time, and therefore not be recognized, so it could persist and preserved to be found later.
As an example of innovation that was ahead of its time; the steam engine was invented in Rome over 2000 years ago. However, it may not have been considered more than an oddity, in Rome. It was never extrapolated to its full potential. Nobody, 2000 years ago recognized that the steam engine would someday lead to an industrial revolution, and alter the way humans would work and live. It was too far ahead of its time. It took key humans another 1700 years to be ready to accept the innovation for what it was.
The question should be phrased, what was the first form of written language, in terms of having discoverable remains, because this version was in time, instead of ahead of it time? When the time is right, any invention has a certain resonance, that allows more people to see its utility. If not, there will be a fear of novelty or indifference, which blanks the mind to the future.
The first civilization is attributed to Mesopotamia. This was actually the first persistent civilization. There is evidence of other pre-civilizations centuries before this, but these did not persist. These appear and then were aborted. The reason comes back to being ahead of their time. These pre-civilizations may have been founded by people who had the vision, and who could make it a reality in terms of the needed organization and skills. However, the rest of the group may just have gone along for the ride. They may not have had the same natural skills or vision. After the founders passed away, there was nobody who could take over and keep it going, because the bulk of the humans were not ready. They returned back to instinct; old ways.
For example, Bill Gates was pivotal in creating the computer empire called Microsoft. The odds are, if Microsoft had to start from scratch, today, without Bill Gates, purge all the records of Microsoft, it may never happen again. It currently depends on a huge capacitance or records and written manuals that Mr Gates helped to establish. It needed a jump start by a visionary who saw the future.
Writing was one of the key inventions that was needed to help mold humans, so they were up to the task of persistent civilization. While writing itself, needed a context to make sense to the crowd. This began with the needs of civilization, especially commerce. It was right for the times. The human psyche had to ready to receive, since the innovation meant drastic change.
Picture a person who invented an early form of written language, but centuries before it made sense to anyone else, other than as art. People may stop and look, but not see what it really is. If the inventor continued to develop this invention, but still nobody wanted it, he would change toward the future, while everyone else would stay in the present. This would create sense of isolation, but also a sense of marvel at what is possible. This may be the story of Adam. In tradition, Adam lives for 1000 years. This is symbolic of a time interval connected to the spirit of the times; pockets of the future among the instinctive present and past.
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For example, Bill Gates was pivotal in creating the computer empire called Microsoft. The odds are, if Microsoft had to start from scratch, today, without Bill Gates, purge all the records of Microsoft, it may never happen again. It currently depends on a huge capacitance or records and written manuals that Mr Gates helped to establish. It needed a jump start by a visionary who saw the future.
It is as likely to suppose that , if Bill hadn't done it, someone else would have done something very similar, and not a lot later.
There are clearly inventions that are "of their time". You refer to Hero's engine and it is also referred to in the idea expressed as "steam engines are invented at steam engine time"
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=steam%20engine%20time
Newton and Leibniz both invented calculus, independently, at much the same time.
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For example, Bill Gates was pivotal in creating the computer empire called Microsoft. The odds are, if Microsoft had to start from scratch, today, without Bill Gates, purge all the records of Microsoft, it may never happen again. It currently depends on a huge capacitance or records and written manuals that Mr Gates helped to establish. It needed a jump start by a visionary who saw the future.
It is as likely to suppose that , if Bill hadn't done it, someone else would have done something very similar, and not a lot later.
There are clearly inventions that are "of their time". You refer to Hero's engine and it is also referred to in the idea expressed as "steam engines are invented at steam engine time"
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=steam%20engine%20time
Newton and Leibniz both invented calculus, independently, at much the same time.
I agree with you. When the time is right, innovation will often appear in many places at the same time. This can occur even without any proof of direct transmission. There is a lot of evidence that shows that the mythologies of the world often appear this way. In all cases, the human psyche and the physical and social circumstances are in harmony for a particular change. This is not so much telepathic, but rather follows based on how physical antecedents and needs are extrapolated by the human brain; human nature. The human brain has collective firmware common to all humans which can extrapolate and become conscious.
On the other hand, if the time is not yet right, an invention may still occur, in isolation, but the conditions are not right for parallel invention, or for others to understand the value of the invention. The steam engine was one example. It appears very early but does not go anywhere until much later. It is very likely written language was another example. It could have appeared earlier than any physical evidence, but would continue to abort until the time was right. Civilization did this several times.
This affect can even be seen in other areas of culture. For example, the Christmas movie, "It is a wonderful life", was released shortly after World War II. It was a box office flop, during it original release. The reason was the people of that time were tired of serious drama, due to the second world war. They were looking for something lighter. Decades later, the time finally became right and the same movie became a classic hit. People first needed to unwind and decompress; build emotional and psychological antecedents, before the artistic value was evident in mass.
In the case of written language, this invention would make more sense if there was a need such that other changes had occurred that set the stage for the critical mass appeal. Evidence indicates that the preliminary form of writing was connected to commerce. It was for accounting, labeling, and contracts.
Contracts can be extrapolated to mean any form of social agreement between people, beyond just buying and selling. The tree of knowledge of good and evil is a type of social contract called the law. Law covers a wide range of human behavior, as broad as spoke language. The time would be right for written language when it became necessary for a way to underwrite any social contract. Written language may have been around before this, but was not yet seen for its social value. It waits in the attic to be rediscovered and become a social hit.
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If we ignore pictographs and personal signs, Linear A and Linear B are pretty much the leading candidates.
They were Minoan scripts. Linear A was earlier, but remains undeciphered, and may be more pictogramatic and not really a complete written Language. It was seemingly more of an internal palace accounting cypher, perhaps. Linear B, reasonably deciphered is more of a traditionally constituted written language. It incorporates both symbols and pictograms.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_A
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_B
--diogenesNY