Meltha Magazine Online

| | | | |

2002 May Conference, page 10

ABSTRACTS

5000 years of Writing

Dr. Norman SOLHKHAH

Writing is Humankind's most far-reaching creation. It has shaped the world like no other invention, and has allowed for the recording of our history (everything prior to the use of writing is termed "pre-history"). Non-verbal communication first began with paintings on cave walls. The oldest of these is found in Chauvet, France. It is 35,000 years old. Writing began to appear in ancient Mesopotamia approximately 5000 years ago. Why non-verbal communication made such little progress in the intervening 30,000 years remain a mystery .But we do know that writing developed out of a need to track merchandise. Called cuneiform, it was a pictographic system, using pictures to represent words. Made from soft clay, these tablets are the precursors to modem conveniences such as word processing and E-mail. Cuneiform was flexible enough that it could adapt to different languages, spreading from Sumerian to Akkadian.

Eventually, the mighty kingdom of Assyria and of Babylon adopted this writing system. Fragments of records have been excavated, which are the remnants of great Epics. These tales anticipate the Greek myths, and one of ,them is a flood story , foreshadowing the account il1 the Bible. Different cultures used writing on different mediums: clay, stone, and papyrus. When Guttenberg invented the printing press, writing spread like wildfire. Where written language had once been a tool solely for the use of scholars and clergy, it soon became available to the all strata of the population. Most intellectual and technological progress owes a debt of thanks to the invention of writing.

Writing has made possible the preservation of hymns, divine texts, and what we describe as literature. It has helped preserve the three major monotheistic religions and laid the foundation for a system of formal education. We give prizes and awards to those we think write best, the Nobel Prize and the PUlitzer to name two. Words express our dreams, our hopes, and our deepest fears. Words exult our greatest achievements, and remind us of our darkest tragedies.