Where Writing Began

The earliest known examples of writing are forms of picture writing found in parts of the Middle East and southeastern Europe. The pictures - such as a foot, which represented the idea of walking - were drawn on the clay when it was soft. The tablets were then baked in the sun and many of them have been found in what are now Iraq and Iran. The tablets - the earliest of which date from around 3500 B.C. - mostly record land sales, business deals and tax accounts. Symbols from this period have also been found on clay tablets in Romania. In addition, archaeologists have also found even more ancient tokens at sites in the Zagros mountains of Iran. The tokens are marked with symbols which appear to represent numbers and specific objects such as animals and garments. The tokens date from about 8500 B.C. - some 5000 years before the accepted date for the invention of writing. But scholars are divided on whether the symbols are a form of artistic decoration or whether they qualify as the beginning of written language. Message in Stone: Primitive language used pictures - sometimes stylised - to convey ideas. This Central American carving, or glyph, is the symbol for grass.