The Origins Of Writing

 
 
 

I spoke to Andrew Robinson and tried to get to the bottom of the origins of writing. Was it invented once and transmitted around the world, or independently in places such as Mesopotamia, China and Easter Island? What inspired it: accountancy, statecraft, religion? Why are some ancient writing systems simple in appearance, others bewilderingly complex?

The evolution of the main alphabetic scripts according to an approximate time-scale (copyright Andrew Robinson)

The evolution of the main alphabetic scripts according to an approximate time-scale (copyright Andrew Robinson)

 
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