Development of Writing
Finally, we made it to writing, but it's not the writing we see today. In Mesopotamia we used the oldest known writing system called cuneiform . Cuneiform was special symbols that meant certain numbers, words, and syllables. In Ancient Egypt they used a writing system called Hieroglyphics. Hieroglyphics was also special pictures or symbols that meant certain letters, numbers, and words . In the Indus Valley the writing system they used was Sanskrit. Sanskrit was special symbols that meant certain words, and syllables. Lastly, in the Huang He, their writing system is unknown. All that we know is that they used special symbols. In the river valleys, not everyone could learn how to write. Only the people who could write were the people who went to school for the 12 years that were required. These people were called scribes. Batterers would usually hire scribes to write down business records. Lastly, in Mesopotamia we wrote on clay tablets that would dry over time. That goes for the Indus Valley and the Huang He. But in Ancient Egypt, we use papyrus. Papyrus is paper shaped material that is made out of reeds. It was very lightweight , and easy to handle.