Origins of Cuneiform Writing in Mesopotamia and Mayan

    The development of writing began in Babylonia in around 3000 BC. The invention of writing in Babylonia consequently led to development of writing in Egypt and China. The writing system practiced in Mesoamerica was considered to be untrue. Writing was achieved in phases taking both the old and the modern phases.  The earliest writing can be traced in Mesopotamia where in spread to other areas such as china. The early writing system was invented to take care of local needs such as dating system. Early writing system in Maya, Egypt, China and Sumerian were adapted in response of local needs.

    The local needs which led to the invention of writing included both social and political needs. These social and political needs became complicated calling for a way to handle them efficiently. During those days, writing was not available and thus communication was a problem. To response to these political and social needs, writing was invented. These needs were mostly after tracking events may be the organization set up or social areas. Archeologists have tracked the early writing as being political and religious motivated (Rudgley, 21). Egypt has been tracked as having writing for the purpose of administrative matters. This might be attributed by the writing materials which were used in Egypt.

    Writing was practiced in different writing materials such as clay and papyrus. The writing material used in Mesopotamia was clay which is normally indestructible. Clay can be made to be more durable through baking. This is why most archeological excavation can be used to trace writing in Mesopotamia. The writing materials used in Egypt were probably the papyrus which is normally perishable. The administrative archives in Egypt that involved in writing were located along the Nile plain. This area was prone to flooding thus destroying the writing which was done on perishable materials. This might be the reason why archeologists were unable to trace administrative records in Egypt (Houston, 57). The writing materials that were used in china could have been wood and silk. Mesoamerica used perishable writing materials such as palm leaves or the bark. The writing practiced in Mesoamerica can be traced from the writings which were done on durable materials such as stone, shell, bones and clay. The writing done on perishable materials could not be traced since they could not survive.

    The writing done in Mesopotamia could be tracked since they were done on durable materials. Excavations which have been carried out in Uruk reveal the sociopolitical scenery in Mesopotamia.   Uruk city began due to the increased population in Babylonia. There have been monuments which have been excavated in Uruk showing the sociopolitical status in the city. Some arts have been traced relaying information about the torture done on people in this city. The increased population posed political and social complexity.

    To enhance accountability and responsibility within the complex system, some inventions were done. Writing was done on clay tokens. Cylinder seals were used to cover the clay vessels. Modern seals used can be traced back to olden days. Further invention occurred by the inclusion of tokens which were mainly done in clay bullae. The clay bullae were normally sealed and were marked in the outer part with impression of the token inside them. Clay tablets carried some impression of numerical signs. These devices which were used in olden are available at some areas such as Uruk and Mesopotamia. Numerico ideographic tablets which is considered to be one of the devices carrying vital information is found in Uruk and some parts of Mesopotamia. The tablets consist of numeric notion surrounding them. It also consists of ideograms which are directed to religion. The numerical tablets and the clay bullae were spread all over the region while the numerico ideographic tablets are only traced at Susiana and Uruk. This confers with the archeological consensus of the high accordance of Babylonian dominance in Susiana (Senner, 13). Archaic writing is represented with complex accounting system which indicates transaction involving large amount of commodities. This kind of writing spread within the vicinity of Mesopotamia. The archaic writing which was considered as cuneiform underwent some evolutions bringing some changes to it.

    The earliest writing in Egypt was to supplement administrative issue. The modern writing system in Egypt can be traced far back to the earliest writing system. Writing was also used in Egypt for display purposes. This was not the case in Mesopotamia where writing was done to solve sociopolitical needs. The contrasting purpose of writing renders some suspense as to why writing was invented. There are some reasons which are attached to the invention of writing while others are believed to have emanated as a result of the invention. The logophonetic Egyptian writing system was mainly invented to address administrative needs. Narmer palette is the earliest Egyptian inscription. The glyphs used during early writing followed the traditional arts.  The early Egypt writing system was logographic (Krammer, 28). It also included phonetic adjuncts. Writing was invented to cater for political needs and mainly for controlling the Egyptian empire. The early writing was introduced to special groups such as the military. Egypt is considered to have developed the oldest alphabet existing in the world. Egyptian hieroglyphics did not include fusing of parts in writing as opposed to Chinese. Egyptian maintained a naturalistic writing system.

    Chinese early writing was done on vessels, bone and shell. The inscriptions were done on vessels made from bronze and bone. Records were kept in these vessels and described the objects. The early Chinese writing system was not a rudimentary system. The fact that there divination inscription on bones could not be taken as the main reason behind the invention of writing in china (Rudgley, 36). This can be attested since inscriptions were not done on all the bones and shells used for divination.

    The Maya writing system consisted of the Maya script. The Maya sprit consisted of the Mayan hieroglyphics. There is no substantiating argument that writing was invented to cater for administrative needs. There were undeciphered Mesoamerican scripts which were composed of long characters. Writing also prospered the existence of a complex calendrical system. This availing might relate writing as being invented to cater for administrative issues. This is not obvious since this documentation might be carried out for religious needs. 

    Mayan hieroglyphics were representational and naturalistic as it applied to the Egyptian hieroglyphics. Mayan signs were considered to be multivalent in which case a single sign was used to represent different words. This multivalent was adopted for application in numerical relationship.  This could not be used for naturalistic representation. The early writing system in Mesoamerica can be traced from recent finding. The discovery of the stone slab carrying some writings paved way for more analysis of the early writing system (Senner, 47). The only script which deciphered in Mesoamerica is the Maya script. The Maya writing can be traced far back to 3rd century BC.  These consist of Maya inscriptions. The early Maya writing system made use of logograms. It also used syllabic glyphs.

The early writing system in Mesopotamia was derived from the method of keeping accounts. This writing system evolved to the triangular shaped stylus. These symbols were inserted in soft clay. A sharp stylus was later used to enable the counting process. This augmentation led to pictographic writing. Wedge shaped stylus replaced the earlier styles bringing forth the term cuneiform. This was first used on logographs but later involved phonetic elements (Houston, 75). Sumerian syllables were later represented in cuneiform.  Cuneiform was adopted as a general writing system for syllables, logograms and numbers. This writing system evolved to form other writing system such as Hittite.

Writing was invented as response to the political and social needs in the society. This writing system evolved to counter the economic necessity in the society. Early writing was invented in the ancient near East. Archeologists have linked clay tokens to early writing which were referred to as cuneiform. Clay tokens represented commodities. The use of clay tokens system became a bother with civilization (Krammer, 98). Tokens were put in baked clay and inscription defining the token were marked outside the clay token. The writing system has evolved as a result of the complexity of both the social and political needs. The complex political system requires an efficient way of presenting information. Social needs such as religious needs have also contributed to the evolvement of the writing system as a response to these needs.

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