Some examples of ancient writing systems
and other record-keeping systems.

  1. The principle of the rebus:

  2. Some definitions:

    1. logographic: sign represents a whole word or concept. (Chinese writing best exemplifies this.)

    2. alphabetic: sign represents one sound (one phoneme) of the language.

    3. syllabic: sign represents a syllable, usually a consonant plus a vowel. Indic writing systems derived from Brahmi, Japanese Katakana, etc. are good examples of this.

    4. A logo-syllabic system is one in which some symbols (glyphs) represent whole words and others represent syllables. This system thus combines the logographic and the syllabary.

    5. The term 'ideogram' or ideographic occcurs in many discussions of writing systems, but Chinese scholars, e.g., don't like it.

  3. See also this page on history of writing.
  4. Earliest precursors of Earliest precursors of writing, showing the tokens with marks on them that were enclosed in 'bullae' and sent as records or "invoices" of trade shipments.

  5. More examples of earliest precursors of writing.

  6. Egyptian uniconsonantal syllabary

  7. Egyptian bi-consonantal signs.

  8. Pictorial origin of ten cuneiform signs.

  9. Proto-Elamite Inscription of the Old Akkadian period.

  10. Formal Development of some signs in hieroglyphic, hieratic, and demotic.

  11. Specimens of hieratic and demotic writing with hieroglyphic transliterations in a modern Egyptological hand.

  12. The Narmer Palette showing mainly Egyptian pictographic signs.

  13. Masons' marks from Anatolia.

  14. Maya inscription from Copan.

  15. An Aztec inscription, with some pictographic signs and some other kinds of 'writing.'

  16. Dakota winter counts, a 'calendrical' or 'weather-related' record-keeping system.

  17. Petroglyph from Oregon (USA) showing some pictograms, and some other kinds of marks.

  18. Pictorial signs of the Sumerian, Egyptian, Hittite, and Chinese writing systems.

  19. Proto-Indic writing from Mohenjo-Daro, in the Indus Valley.

  20. Rock painting from southern Rhodesia showing rain ceremony.

  21. Chinese character for 'sun' showing how strokes are built up.

  22. Examples of traditional and 'simplified' Chinese characters.