Proto Writing is a primal link in the development of literacy. Evidence of proto-writing goes back to c. 7000 BCE in Neolithic China. Later, Mesopotamian merchants develop a system of clay markings sealed into hollow globes of clay to send along with trade goods.
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Before the spread of written language, various examples of proto-writing crop up in Europe and Asia. They include:
The Jiahu symbols carved in tortoise shells come from 24 Neolithic graves Jiahu, northern China, dating from c. 7000 - 6000 BCE.
Vinča symbols, or the "Danube script", are a set of symbols inscribed on Neolithic artifacts from the Vinča culture of Central Europe and Southeast Europe.
The Dispilio Tablet, a wooden tablet from Greece c. 5200 BCE is also an example of proto-writing.
The Indus script, which from 3500 BCE to 1900 BCE, is used for short inscriptions.
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The Jiahu symbols
The Jiahu symbols are distinct markings on prehistoric artifacts. Some are incised on turtle shells. They're discovered in Jiahu, a neolithic Peiligang culture site in Henan, China.
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The Jiahu symbols date to c. 7 - 6000 BCE. Up to 16 signs are identified. Closer examination finds 11 definitely incised signs.
Nine are on tortoise shells, 2 on bone. Archaeologists suggest a similar form and style to characters of the later oracle bone script, such as similar markings of 目 "eye", 日 "sun; day".
A 2003 report in Antiquity describes the Jiahu symbols "not as writing itself, but as features of a lengthy period of sign-use which led eventually to a fully-fledged system of writing".
The earliest known body of writing in the oracle bone script dates much later. It develops during the reign of the late Shang dynasty king Wu Ding, c. 1250 BCE.
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At Damaidi in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, 3,172 cliff carvings dating back to c. 6000 - 5000 BCE have been found. They depict 8,453 individual characters, including the sun, moon, stars, gods and pastoral or hunting scenes.
The Vinča symbols
The Vinča symbols or Vinča–Turdaș signs, Old European script, Danube script are a set of untranslated symbols found on Neolithic era artifacts from the Vinča culture and other related "Old European" cultures of Central and Southeastern Europe.
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Dispute arises, as it must, over whether this is one of the earliest writing systems or simply symbols of some sort - fundamentally the same thing. The symbols are best described as an example of pre-writing or "proto-writing. They're in use c. 5300 BCE.
The Dispillo Tablet
The Dispilio tablet is a wooden piece inscribed with markings, discovered during excavations at Dispilio in Western Macedonia, Greece. Carbon dating puts the tablet at c. 5200 BCE.
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In 1993 the board is found in a Neolithic lakeshore settlement on an artificial island near the modern Greek village of Dispilio. The habitation area itself is first discovered during the dry winter of 1932, which lowers the lake level to uncover traces of human settlement.
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The site appears to have been occupied over a long period. Signs of habitation exist from the final stages of the Middle Neolithic period (5600 - 5000 BCE) to the Final Neolithic period (3000 BCE).
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Items found include ceramics, wood structural elements and portions of wooden walkways. Workers also uncover seeds, bones, figurines, personal ornaments, flutes and a tablet with marks on it.
The tablet is immersed in mud and water for thousands of years. It's partially damaged when exposed to the oxygen-rich environment, and is now under conservation.
Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age
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The transitional stage to a cohesive writing system takes place in the Jemdet Nasr period (c. 3100–2900 BCE) in Mesopotamia. Jemdet Nasr is one of the oldest Sumerian cities.
In 1903 CE, German excavators purchase a collection of 36 tablets. While they think the tablets are from Tell Jemdet Nasr, it's later shown they're probably from nearby Tell Uqair. Below is a Jemdet Nasr ration list c. 3000 BCE.
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Similar tablets are offered for sale by a French antiquities dealer in 1915. Again these are said to come from Tell Jemdet Nasr.
More tablets, painted monochrome and polychrome pottery was revealed in 1925 by local Arabs. In 1926, Langon uncovers a large mudbrick building containing he distinctive pottery, and 150 to 180 clay tablets bearing the proto-cuneiform script.
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Trading Tokens
The use of trading tokens goes back to c. 9000 BCE in Mesopotamia. Trading or trade tokens are usually made of clay as it's the handiest material to find.
The sender inscribes a personal mark and other information regarding the products delivered. They may be put into a globular ball sculpture like the one below, thought to be the first type of shipping envelope.
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When the tokens are placed in the sphere, the sender seals the two halves and may inscribe the outside of the clay ball. In this way the merchant keeps track of inventory, what's traveling where and how. Wealthy merchants often employ several scribes for this.
The small limestone tokens below are carved in pictographs by a merchant c. 3500 BCE. They indicate type of items shipped, amount, price and details. These tokens are enclosed in a sphere as above, or other type of clay envelope, then sealed with the merchant's mark.
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The tablets come from Kish, Babylonia (today's Iraq). In the Neolithic and ancient world these are in common use by traders and sellers as invoices, receipts, counting and accounting for inventory and payment.
The Kish tablets show a stage of the proto-cuneiform writing style directly before the appearance of cuneiform script in Sumer. They're approximately 4 in (10 cm) x 4 in. Limestone is a soft solid rock, easy to carve with no chipping, and durable.
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By the end of the 4th millennium BC, this symbol system evolves into a method of keeping accounts. The scribe uses a round-shaped stylus impressed into soft clay at different angles for recording numbers on clay tablets and accounting tokens.
This was gradually augmented with pictographic writing using a sharp stylus to indicate what was being counted. The transitional stage to a writing system proper takes place in the Jemdet Nasr period (31st to 30th centuries BC).
Number symbols - Sumerian & Babylonian
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Early Proto-cuneiform is c. 3500 - 4000 BCE, top row. Middle row contains cuneiform signs for the sexagesimal system (60, 600, 3600 and so on).
Lower row are the values given each symbol. The sexagesimal measuring system or Base 60 is used in Mesopotamia for city planning, temple building and other projects.
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Example of early Indus Valley Script. So far, experts are unable to decipher the glyphs.
EARLY WRITING EVOLUTION
Illustrations of writing in Mesopotamia, Egypt and China show similar developments. Over time writing becomes standardized through cuneiform and descendent scripts.
An Indus Valley marking system is developed by c. 5000 BCE but falls out of use about 1500 years later. The first written language, Sumerian cuneiform, comes into practice c. 3100 BCE.
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