Writing from The Lascaux to Simmons

Using a timeline of written history, I put together a brief, random, and incomplete visual look at the history at writing.



(30,000 BC - Early cave paintings appear in Western Europe... This is from the Cave of Lascaux in France. We viewed images from this cave in class.)


(This the Deer Bone Tally we saw in class. This pic and the next are from a British Museum.)


(This is a Horse Jaw bone Tally, with more intricate line designs of stored information.)


(This is a clay envelope and tokens. This is from a Denise Schmandt-Besserat UT Website, but I lost the URL and google will not find it again..... Damn you GOOGLE!)

The following two are from
"ACCOUNTING WITH TOKENS IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST"
by Denise Schmandt-Besserat , University of Texas.


(These are Examples of COMPLEX TOKENS)


(This (above )is an example of a token that counted grain)



NECKLACE (above)- The bulla originally locked the ends of a string with a number of complex counting tokens attached to it, representing 1 transaction. The string with the tokens was hanging outside the bulla like a necklace. If the string had, say, 5 disk type tokens representing types of textiles, this number could not be tampered with without breaking the seal. The tokens could also be entirely enclosed in the centre of the bulla. Tokens were used for accounting purposes in the Near East from the Neolithic period ca. 8000 BC until ca. 3200 BC, when they were superseded by counting tablets and pictographic tablets. WEBSITE with more info.





( Just something I found in my research. The website I found it on has more info.)






(3500 BC - Picture(above) of a cuneiform tablet. This began the transformation from tokens and bulla, to more of written numerical system)





(2800 BC- This is from China. It is an oricale bone. The Early Chinese used these type of bones to write down Almanac type of info, including weather. They also wrote down herbal medical remedies.)




(2500 BC - This is an animal hyde used for transcribing information. It is believed that this form of writing began in the Middle East)





(17th Century BC- This is a picture of the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus. Egyptians developed the method of using of the Papyrus plant as a resource for writing. The y are believed to have began as early as 4000 BC.)






( The Rosetta Stone.... A key that unlocked written language.)




(If only writing was used for GOOD and not pure FREAKINESS!!!!)