From Records to Writing—Part 3 of Big History

Some 5-7 thousand years ago the first states emerged. The next post will describe how those states impacted the evolution of human culture. In this post I will focus on the invention of writing and the role it played in the further development of civilization.

The first forms of writing—which lasted for about 2,000 years before they transformed into true script—were used for accounting. As societies grew more complex, it became important to create a record of business transactions that could later be referred to. At that time, writing wasn’t yet words—it was characters. Thus, early writing records were a symbolic form of writing—allowing effective ways for bookkeepers to keep track of business, without needing to know or employ the language of either party.

The record-keeping form of transactions was a huge improvement, because it allowed the storage of information, which in turn allowed communication from one place to another and from one time to another. This process also streamlined the task of taxation; thus it met the administrative needs of the state.

It was previously believed that the first true writing began in Sumer (Mesopotamia) and spread from there. Current thought, however, is that the origins of writing independently occurred in (1) Mesopotamia, (2) Egypt, (3) China, and (4) Mesoamerica.

After a couple of millennia, writing began to morph from symbolic to phonetic—allowing it to move beyond just an accounting tool. It was a transformation from symbols to sounds. Because the symbols were not yet particular to a specific language, they could be commonly used for several languages. For example, Chinese symbols are the same across all of China, being common to several different languages. The disadvantage of symbols, however, is that this form of writing often required several hundred signs.

So the next step in writing was the invention of an alphabet, some 3-4 thousand years ago. Alphabetical letters were based on sounds—not signs. The genius of the alphabet is that all sounds of a given language can be described by about two dozen letters. It was a major simplification. Literary works soon followed.

With the new tool of writing, civilizations could grow evermore complex. The affairs of state could now become based on writing. This development also encouraged the further development of religion—as holy scripture could now emerge.

Next time—the last of this series—we'll look at the rise of the state and how it became intertwined with institutionalized religion...