Any Ancient Civilizations Without Writing?

[fahrquad]

Wow, I just noticed this thread is 7 years old.  Anyhow, any civilization with more than a dozen or so individuals will need some form of record keeping, in particular for trade.

[HelStone]

Hi. Here is a good example. Students of the Inka khipu (or quipu, Quechua for “knot”), the knotted-string devices used for record keeping in the Inka Empire, have long been frustrated by our inability to interpret the information recorded on these devices, especially since Spanish chroniclers say that any indigenous, first-hand information on Inka history was registered on khipus. This article argues, first, that we are now able to interpret many Inka administrative khipus, and second, that when we succeed in compiling numerous administrative interpretations, or readings, they can be assembled into an indigenous history of the Inka Empire. It is further argued that such a history would follow the contours of an Annales history, the style of history writing that privileged administrative records, such as censuses and tribute records, over those focusing on the lives and deeds of individuals.The article then questions how the Inkas conceived of and structured history. Their history may not have been structured like Western linear history, but rather in cyclical form, with events repeated over time (comparison is made to the Gada system of Ethiopia).

Edited March 13, 2020 by GAHD
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[david554]

Very nice topic to discuss about!

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[write4u]

On 2/23/2019 at 10:32 AM, montgomery said:

Why do you think they called it a hinge?

They don't. They call it "stonehenge"

The word ‘HENGE’ – What does it mean ?

Dictionary meaning:

Henge definition
henge (henj)
noun

a Neolithic or Bronze Age monument of the British Isles, consisting of a circular bank or ditch enclosing, variously, stone or timber uprights, burial pits, etc.

 

What is a ‘Henge’ monument

 

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Stone Henge – What is one?

Definition:

A henge is the term given to a large prehistoric earthwork, usually but not always circular, whether of stones, wood, or earth.

 

https://blog.stonehenge-stone-circle.co.uk/2010/04/12/the-word-henge-what-does-it-mean/

[write4u]

Oldest Known Drawing by Human Hands Discovered in South African Cave

By Nicholas St. Fleur, Sept. 12, 2018

 

Nine red lines on a stone flake found in a South African cave may be the earliest known drawing made by Homo sapiens, archaeologists reported on Wednesday. The artifact, which scientists think is about 73,000 years old, predates the oldest previously known modern human abstract drawings from Europe by about 30,000 years.

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“We knew a lot of things Homo sapiens could do, but we didn’t know they could do drawings back then,” said Christopher Henshilwood, an archaeologist from the University of Bergen in Norway and lead author of the study.

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The finding, which was published in Nature, may provide insight into the origins of humanity’s use of symbols, which laid the foundation for language, mathematics and civilization.

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The ancient drawing was unearthed in Blombos Cave, which is about 200 miles east of Cape Town. Archaeological deposits at the site date from 70,000 to 100,000 years ago during the Middle Stone Age. Inside the cave, scientists have uncovered Homo sapiens’ teeth, spear points, bone tools, engravings and beads made from seashells.

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Luca Pollarolo, a research fellow at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, was cleaning some artifacts excavated from the site in 2011 when he stumbled across a small flake, measuring only about the size of two thumbnails, that appeared to have been drawn on. The markings consisted of six straight, almost parallel lines that were crossed diagonally by three slightly curved lines.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/12/science/oldest-drawing-ever-found.html

As writing is only a symbolic representation of a thing or an idea (see hieroglyphs) it seems that this should count as a form of writing.

Cave paintings were not intended as art, but as pictorial storytelling . The first emojis on record.....🍕

Edited March 4, 2021 by write4u

[write4u]

On further thought;

What is language but a symbolic representation of a thing or idea?

Imitative message displays have been practiced in nature by many species. That humans would use colored clays to imitate natural camouflage seems like a very good survival technique.

Feathered head dresses and face painting are but two such natural imitation (expressive language) used by many primitive humans very early on, both for communication and for camouflage (hunting) purposes.

[heileydurst]

Writing is the process which has been lasted for so long and even ancient civilization had some specific types of writing unique and understandable perhaps for the finite number of people or tribe.. Perhaps civilization cannot and could not exist without writing with the help of which people communicate with each other and exchange knowledge, information and thoughts. Writing has changed greatly thought times and today I have the possibility to write everything I want and help others, because even now in the world full of technology for someone it might be hard to write papers, so I help those who are in need of gre essay strategies and want to disocver essential writing tips of good writing.