Unit 8/9. Lesson 2. The invention of writing

As you have studied in the previous unit, the difference between prehistory and history proper is writing. Mesopotamians invented the first writing system. The other river civilisations (Egypt, India, China) also invented their own writing systems: of all these, Chinese script is the only writing system that is still in use.

In the presentation you can see how Mesopotamians and Egyptians invented writing, the basic characteristics of their writing systems and what they used them for. In your book, there is some information about cuneiform writing at page 134 (section 5.1) and hieroglyphic script at page 152 (section 6.1)



It is important that you understand that not all the civilisations in the word discovered writing at the same time. The peoples that had writing systems are considered historical civilisations, those peoples that could not write are prehistorical, even if they lived at the same time.

This video shows you the origins of writing systems in the world.



In this animated map you can see how writing systems expanded throughout Europe from 2000 BC until AD 2019 (you don't need to watch the whole video, just click at different moments to see how the map changes).



Answer this form to see if you have understood the lesson. There are only 3 questions today.


In this website you can use a simplified form of hieroglyphic script to write your name. Send a picture of your name to the teacher if you like it! This is how the teacher's name looks like: