Who invented writing? - Matthew Winkler

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Speaking came thousands of years before writing. All writing that has developed since its invention can be traced back to two civilizations: Sumerian and Chinese. Matthew Winkler dissects the evolution of Sumerian cuneiform and explains the difference between writing those first symbols and simply drawing meaning.

Lesson by Matthew Winkler, animation by TED-Ed.

Who invented writing?

Human beings have probably been speaking to each other

for tens of thousands of years,

but we've only been writing our words down

for about 5,000 years.

Before then, we recorded information

using pictures and diagrams

on pottery and cave walls

or woven into fabric.

Those artistic impulses led us down the path to writing.

The writing system that we use in English

actually started with the Sumerian culture

sometime between 4500 B.C. and 1750 B.C.

in lower Mesopotamia, which is modern-day Iraq and Syria.

The Sumerians kept records of business deals

using tiny, clay sculptures of goats, donkeys, and oxen.

They then discovered that two-dimensional engravings

on clay tablets were even simpler.

For example, this symbol meant, "mountains,"

this one meant, "head".

If the mouth area of head was emphasized,

that could mean, "mouth".

Mouth combined with water meant, "drink,"

and mouth joined to bread meant, "eat."

Add the symbol for ox,

and you have "eat an ox".

Voila - the invention of writing!

But some words have meanings

that are hard to represent with symbols.

How would you draw, "ox in the mountains"?

Remember, if you just draw what you mean,

that's art, not writing.

In order for this to be writing,

the symbol has to stand for the word.

Can you read this?

It's a famous quote from Hamlet by William Shakespeare.

Right, "To be or not to be."

That's how the Sumerians solved the problem too.

Ox plus water plus mountain.

What does water have to do with anything?

Well, the Sumerian word for water

sounded just like their word for "in,"

so "ox in mountains".

Linguists call this rebus writing.

The Sumerians already knew

how to represent meaning through written symbols,

and by representing sounds as well,

the Sumerians expanded their written vocabulary.

Gradually the symbols for sounds

were used more often

and the symbols for meaning were used less.

The writing system became streamlined

into a phonetic alphabet

that we know as cuneiform.

Many cultures, like the Acadians and the Syrians,

adapted this Sumerian invention

to create their own writing systems.

The "Epic of Gilgamesh"

and the "Code of Hammurabi"

were written in variants of cuneiform.

As this technology spread,

these symbols found their way to Greece

and into the most widely used alphabet in the world today.

But Sumeria wasn't the only place on Earth

where writing was invented.

Ancient Egyptians developed their hieroglyphic

and hieratic scripts at about the same time, 3500 B.C.

Then writing was independently invented in China,

around 1500 B.C.,

and then, spread throughout Southeast Asia.

Most recently, the Mayan culture in Central America

began carving their cartouches in 300 A.D.

So, who invented writing?

The Sumerians,

the Egyptians,

the Chinese,

and the Mayans for sure.

Ultimately, all the writing systems

still in use around the world today

can be traced back to Sumeria or China.

Writing may have also been invented

in other parts of the world.

Ancient inscriptions left by the Indus Valley

and Rapa Nui cultures have been discovered,

but nobody has been able to decipher them.

Do you want to try?