The first writing wasn't in Mesopotamia

From: Glenn Morton (glenn.morton@btinternet.com)
Date: Tue Apr 23 2002 - 23:30:15 EDT

  • Next message: Glenn Morton: "RE: Doubt and Science."

    Dick wrote:
    "We make mistakes, and Glenn corrects them. It is a formula that has worked
    for years now"

    Lets do this formula one more time. Dick you really ought to learn that it
    is a big world and that knowing more than merely mesopotamia is important.

    Dick wrote:
    **********************
    "Sumerologists advocate that since the Sumerians were first to write, and
    they wrote about matters of creation, the flood, etc., that the Accadians,
    later Hebrews, borrowed and eventually Hebrew versions got caught up in the
    Bible. Alternatively, we could believe that the Accadians and Sumerians who
    lived side by side were impacted by historical events equally, and recorded
    their own versions.

    The Sumerians invented handwriting, and the Accadians learned from them, so
    if we just look at chronological order, Sumerian versions should be older.
    But to say that the Hebrews copied "pagan mythologies" is supposition only,
    and beyond what can be confirmed."
    ***********************

    Your statement is at least 2 years out of date. There are at least two
    earlier contenders for the title of earliest writing;

    First, Egypt:

    Writing May Have Begun in
    Egypt - Archaeologists

    Reuters
    15-DEC-98
     CAIRO, Dec 15 (Reuters) - German archaeologists said on Tuesday they have
    discovered ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions which raise questions
    about the origin of writing.
     "It was thought that Sumerians were earlier in writing than Egypt," Gunter
    Dreyer, director of the German Archaeological Institute in Egypt, told a
    news conference.
     "With our findings we see now it's on the same level and this is an open
    question: was it (writing) invented here or there?"
    An expedition from the institute discovered the inscriptions on about 300
    pots and labels over a period of 10 years at an ancient royal cemetery,
    named "the Mother of Pots" for its rich pottery work, in Abydos, about 400
    km (250 miles) south of Cairo.
    The earliest known Sumerian writings were thought to date back to 3000 BC
    but the German Institute's new findings show some writings dating back to
    3400 BC. "But the bulk of the institute's) evidence is about 3200 BC,"
    Dreyer said.

    http://customnews.cnn.com/cnews/pna.show_story?p_art_id=3251635&p_section_na
    me=Sci-Tech&p_art_type=374522&p_subcat=Archeology+%26+Paleontology&p_categor
    y=Sciences

    I fear that this url is gone now but one can find this info by a search on
    King Scorpion + writing
    And then there is this:

    Tuesday, May 4, 1999 Published at 08:10 GMT 09:10 UK

    Sci/Tech

    'Earliest writing' found

    The fragments of pottery are about 5,500 years old

    Exclusive by BBC News Online Science Editor Dr
    David Whitehouse
    The first known examples of writing may have been unearthed
    at an archaeological dig in Pakistan.

    So-called 'plant-like' and 'trident-shaped' markings have
    been found on fragments of pottery dating back 5500 years.

     They were found at a site called Harappa in the region
    where the great Harappan or Indus civilisation flourished
    four and a half thousand years ago.

     Harappa was originally a small settlement in 3500 BC but by
    2600 BC it had developed into a major urban centre."
    , , ,Last year it was suggested that the oldest writing might
    have come from Egypt.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_334000/334517.stm

    And last Tuesday this came out:
    http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/16/science/social/16SCOR.html

    Dick, once more, there is more to the world than Mesopotamia. THey didn't
    even invent writing.

    glenn

    see http://www.glenn.morton.btinternet.co.uk/dmd.htm
    for lots of creation/evolution information
    anthropology/geology/paleontology/theology\
    personal stories of struggle



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