From the beginnings of humankind, the urge to make markings in the effort
towards expression and communication, has taken many interesting and resourceful
forms.
From the earliest known existing forms, exist Cave paintings, the most
famous of which, are Lasceaux
of France, and Altamira
of Spain, but that is not to say globally it was not a phenomena. It is only
because these early artworks, were often exposed to the elements, and deteriorated
over time, that more is not known. Evidence of why early humans started
marking and painting, is obscure, many theories abound, vested from the
imaginations of professionals. Some say the paintings were religious expression,
some say it was the doodling of hunters, the many reasons point to one answer,
imagination. Humans were born with imaginary powers, hardwired into their
brains, and the intrinsic need for expression. As sure as anything the body
produces, must eventually find it's way out of the body, imagination
must be expressed in the exterior. During the Ice Age, humans spent quite
a lot of time in caves, protecting themselves from harsh elements and dangerous
animals. Cave walls, under torch light, with their undulating surfaces,
may very well begin to resemble a figure, or animal, the urge to express
this kind of identification, may very well mark the beginning of storytelling,
for a community with an ever broadening grasp of their consciousness, and
curiosity about the workings of their world. Some say the cave paintings,
mark the birth of religion.
These early urges date as far back as 40,000 B.C., the most recent, about
10,000B.C. It is the purpose of this essay to explore more recent expressions,
but I feel in order to more fully explain origins and materials, the stage
must be set, and the source must be identified, for it is this writer's
belief, the origins of writing, began in the caves.
The climate became friendlier, and the earth more co-operative with
its yielding, the trend to follow the herds became less crucial to the
survival of the tribe, slowly, the hunters and gatherers, became farmers.
Commerce came into play, as more members of the community began to specialize,
artisans and tool makers, pottery makers, and basket weavers. Then specialties
in agriculture, such as irrigation. The farmers needed tools, and would
trade with the tool maker for food, and visa versa. Barter and trade became
a way of life, the birth of society and business.
The need to establish a writing system, appears most prominently in Mesopotamia,
about 5,000 years ago. Clay tablets were used to record basic information,
mostly about crops. The earliest examples, are known as pictograms,
which was information in the form of pictures, drawn with a sharp object,
such as a reed, into the soft clay. As societies needs to communicate more
complex interactions and abstract ideas, signs and letters were grouped
together to make words. Pictograms then evolved into cuniform,
widely used by the people of the near east. The writing style of cuniform
differed from pictograms, in the instrument used to make markings. Pictograms,
as said earlier, used a sharp tool. The tool used for Cuniform, was a squared
ended tool. This tool was used by pressing the end into the soft clay,
to make wedge shapes. there is no formal theory as to why the signs changed.
It can be conjectured, the evolution took place, as more information needed
to be recorded faster, using less tablet space. Also the wedge shapes and
tool, may be a hybrid of styles, learned through doing business with many
varying tribes, in an effort towards better communication. Indeed, cuniform
was used to communicate between several different languages, Sumerian,
Akkadian, Elamite, Hittite, and Uratian, as well as a great many other
people, who did not have their own writing system. Cuniform was the universal
language for trade among tribes. There was your own language, and the language
of business. Eventually, cuniform would evolve to reflect the language of
user more directly. Objects with distinct sounds, would then serve double
duty as representing sound in the written language, as in the use of the
sign for barley, ‘she’ in the Sumerian language, to represent the sound ‘she’,
in the word ‘she-er-kur’, the word for figcake. Now cuniform was used not
only for business, but for stories, myths, and personal letters. By 2500
B.C., cuniform became so complicated, Sumerian schools were established.
Students, male and wealthy, became scribes in palaces and temples. The curriculum,
no longer limited to business, the schools also became centers of culture
and scolarship.
The Rosetta Stone
was inscribed in Egypt, 196 B.C. The stone was discovered in 1799, but it
wasn’t until 1822, with work done by Jean-Francoise Champollion, that it
was finally decifered. What makes it so remarkable, is the three different
scripts it is written in. The first, hieroglyphic, which was the script used
for very important religious documents. the second, demotic, which was the
script of the people. The third, Greek, which was the language of the rulers.
The reason for all three, was so priests, government officials, and rulers,
could all read what it said. The stone was written by priests, in honor of
the Pharaoh, listing all the good he had done for Egypt and the people.
Egyptian scribes used papyrus, temples, and tomb walls, to preserve the
beliefs, history, and ideas of of ancient Egypt.
The students of scribal schools, would practice the very difficult and
complicated task of learning hieroglyphs, on old pieces of pottery, or flakes
of limestone. Most records were kept on papyrus roll. Scribes used reed
brushes dipped in ink. Papyrus comes from the papyrus plant, the rolls were
made by cutting the plant into long strips, and then the strips were laid
out flat, in a criss-cross pattern. the sheet is then pressed flat, and left
to dry. Then the sheets are joined with glue, to make long scrolls.
Writing on the walls of the tomb, helped a Pharaoh get into the afterlife.
Scribes would write spells on the walls, then artisans would carve the hieroglyphics,
and paint them.
Hieroglyphs on tomb walls, paintings of animals on cave walls, did the
ancient Egyptians share a deeper ancestry with their Paleolithic brethren,
other then race? Was the urge for subterranean expression part of what Jung
called, the collective unconscious?
Sanskrit is
an indic language, spoken in ancient India. It is thought to be derived
from Prakrit. Prakrits
were used in ordinary speech, where as Sanskrit was a literary language,
which eventually developed such refinements as grammar. Some Prakrits developed
literary languages of their own. Prakrit to Sanskrit, may be compared, as
vulgar Latin, to classical Latin. the word Sanskrit means, completed, refined,
perfected. The story taught to students, is the creation and refinement process,
took many generations, 1,000 years.In its older form, it is a close descendent
of Proto-Indo-European, the root of all later Indo-European languages. the
consolidation and modification process, turned Sanskrit into a classical
language, with strict esthetic rules, Considerable works of literature, drama,
mathematics, politics, astronomy, medicine, etc, were written in Sanskrit.
Just as the language of the learned in Greece, was Latin, In India, it was
Sanskrit. Writing was introduced relatively late in India, as the oral traditions
held the important role of transferring knowledge. It is suggested, that traders
from the Middle East, first introduced writing to India.
The earliest dated illustrated Sanskrit manuscript,
is 997 (B.C.?). I was never able to find out what materials were used, but
a hint may be found, in the discovery of another ancient Buddhist
manuscript, written on birch bark in Gandhani in the 1st or 2nd century
A.D. The Gandhani language, refers to the region of Gandhara, located today
in Eastern Afghanistan, and Northern Pakistan. Gandhara was an early vibrant
center of Buddhism, and location of some of the most influential schools
of Buddhism in the 1st century. It is written, that Gandhara was pivotal
in the spread of Buddhism from India, to central asia, China, and the rest
of East Asia.
With the introduction of Hellenism by Alexander the Great in 330-325 B.C.,
Gandharan
artistic techniques show a hybrid of Greco-Roman classical aesthetics,
and buddhist iconography. Under the influence of classical aesthetics, Gandhara
was the first region to portray the Buddha in human form. Previously, only
symbolic iconography was used to portray the enlightened one.
With a legacy of Nomads, trade and colonization, writing and communication
finds their origins in many parts of the world. Hewn into rock, pressed
into clay, and clever manipulations of natural resources, these early endeavors,
tell us stories across millenia.