I wasn’t gainsaying that. Cuneiform arose to meet a need and almost certainly was derived from an earlier form of notation. By the time civilization started storing information on clay tablets, some form of writing had to be available.
There was a very provocative piece on PBS, Nova, perhaps, recently that claims that the alphabet was only ever invented once, in the Levant, about 3000 years ago, and was derived from Egyptian hieroglyphics. Tracing the Roman alphabet through Greek to Phoenician is relatively straight forward, and the Phoenician alphabet is very close to the earliest alphabetic symbols, which began by using hieroglyphs phonetically in rebuses-like form. All alphabets ever used in the world were derived from it. The assertion is that the alphabet was only invented once, one time, in one place.
PBS Nova, A to Z
Nova, A to Z
Writing and printing are perhaps the greatest inventions of all time, changing the course of human history through the spread of ideas.
In this two-part series, NOVA explores how writing began and reveals the astonishing origins of our own alphabet. Then, researchers investigate the origins of the printing press, which kicked off the Industrial Revolution and led to swift technological advancement and the expansion of cultures.
A to Z: The First Alphabet
The birth of writing and the first alphabet were among the world’s most vital inventions.
Where would we be without the world’s alphabets? Writing has played a vital role in the development and expansion of cultures throughout history. But researchers are only now uncovering the origin story to our own alphabet, which may have gotten its beginnings in a turquoise mine 4,000 years ago. From the shape of the letter A to the role of writing in trade and storytelling, discover how the written word shaped civilization itself.
A to Z: How Writing Changed the World
The creation of printing, the first information technology, drove empires and revolutions.
printing revolutionized the spread of information. While the invention of paper boosted Chinese and Islamic societies, the simple fact that the Latin alphabet could be printed using a small number of discrete, repetitive symbols helped popularize moveable type, handing Europe a crucial advantage at the beginning of the Renaissance. The printing press itself kicked off the scientific revolution that fast-tracked us to the current digital age.