The History of Writing
Writing Timeline

• 3300 B.C. - Sumer clay tablets are found in Uruk, Iraq.

• 3100 B.C. - Cuneiform inscriptions begin in Mesopotamia.

At the top, the sun symbol for the god Ra; The Jackal head = "be strong;" The goddess with a feather, goddess of justice. Maat. who carries the "ankh" (life);adze on a block of wood = "chosen;" and the zig-zag = water or the letter "n" in the Egyptian language.

• 3100-3000 B.C. - Hieroglyphic inscriptions begin in Egypt.

• 2500 B.C. - Indus script begins in Pakistan and India.

• 18th c. B.C. - Cretan Linear A inscriptions.

• 1792-1750 B.C. - Hammurabi, King of Babylon, reigns; inscriptions of law codes on stela.

• 17th-16th century B.C. - The first known alphabet in Palestine.

• 1450 B.C. - Cretan Linear B incriptions begin.

• 14th century B.C. - Ugarit, Syria has alphabetic cuniform inscriptions.

• 1361-1362 B.C. - Tutankhamen is King of Egypt.

• Circa 1285 B.C. - the Battle of Kadesh is celebrated by Rameses II and the Hittities.

• 1200 B.C. - Chinese characters are written on oracle bones.

• 1000 B.C. - Phoenician alphabet began in the Meditterranean area.

• 730 B.C. - Greek alphabetic inscriptions begin.

• 8th century B.C. - Etrusan alphabet appears in northern Italy.

• 650 B.C. - Demotic inscriptions, derived from hieroglyhs, begin in Egypt.

• 600 B.C. - Mesoamerican inscriptions begin.

• 521-486 B.C. - Darius, King of the Persians reigns; creates Behistun inscription (key to the decipherment of cuneiforms).

• 400 B.C. - Ionian alphabet becomes the standard Greek alphabet.

• 270-232 B.C. - In southern India they create Brahmi and Kharosthi Script.

• 221 B.C. - Qin dynasty reforms Chinese character spelling.

• 2nd century B.C. - The Chinese invent paper.

• 1st century B.C. - The Dead Sea Scrolls written in Aramaic/Hebrew script.

• 75 A.D. - Last inscription is written in cuneiform.

• 2nd century - Runic inscription begin in northern Europe.

• 394 A.D. - Last inscription in hieroglyphs in Egypt.

• 615-683 - Pacal is the Classic Mayan ruler of Palenque, Mexico.

• 712 Kojiki - the earliest work of Japanese literature is written(in Chinese characters).

• Before 800 - The Chinese invent printing.

• 9th century - Cyrillic alphabet invented in Russia.

• 1418-1450 - Sejong, King of Korea, invents Hangul alphabet.

• 15th century - Moveable type invented in Europe.

• 1560s - Diego de Landa records the Mayan alphabet in the Yucatan, Mexico.

• 1799 - The Rosetta Stone is discovered in Egypt.

• 1821 - The Cherokee alphabet is invented by Sequoya in USA.

• 1823 - Egyptian hieroglyphs are deciphered by Champollion.

• 1840s - Mesopatamian cuneiform deciphered by Rawlinson, Hincks, and others.

• 1867 - The typewriter is invented.

• 1899 - Oracle bone inscriptions discovered in China.

• 1900 - Knossos discovered by Evans, who identifies Cretan Linear A and B.

• 1905 - Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions discovered by Petrie, Serabit el-Khadim, Sinai.

• 1920 - Indus civilization discovered.

• 1940s - Electronic computers are invented.

• 1948 - Hebrew becomes a natural language in Israel.

• 1953 - Linear B decipered by Ventris.

  From 1950 onwards - the Mayan glyphs are decipered.

• 1958 - Pinyin spelling introduced in China.

• 1980s - Wordprocessors are invented, and writing becomes electronic.

• 1990s - Computers go mainstream, as more and more homes have them.

• December 23, 2012 - Current Maya Great Cycle of time due to end.

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