Writing: A Chronicle*

(More than you ever wanted to know about writing)

Date	Event
Ice Ages (after 25,000 BC)	Proto-writing, i.e. pictographic communication, in use
8000 BC onwards	Clay tokens in use as counters, Middle East
3300 BC	Summerian clay tables with writing, Uruk, Iraq
3100 BC	Cuneiform inscriptions begin, Mesopotamia
3100-3000 BC	Hieroglyphic inscriptions begin, Egypt
2500 BC	Indus script begins, Pakistan/N.W. India
18th cent BC	Cretan Linear A inscriptions begin
1792-1750 BC	Hammurabi, king of Babylon, reigns; inscribes law code on stela
17th-16th cent BC	First known alphabet, Palestine
1450 BC	Cretan Linear B inscriptions begin
14th cent. BC	Alphabetic cuneiform inscriptions, Ugarit, Syria
1361-1352 BC	Tutankhamun reigns, Egypt
c. 1285 BC	Battle of Kadesh celebrated by both Ramesses II & Hittites
1200 BC	Oracle bone inscriptions in Chinese characters begin
1000 BC	Phoenician alphabetic inscriptions begin, Mediterranean
730 BC	Greek alphabetic inscriptions begin
c. 8th cent. BC	Etruscan alphabet appears, northern Italy
650 BC	Demonic inscriptions, derived from hieroglyphs begin, Egypt
600 BC	Glyphic inscriptions begin, Mesoamerica
551-486 BC	Darius, king of the Persians, reigns; creates Behustun inscription ( key to decipherment of cuneiform)
400 BC	Ionian alphabet becomes standard Greek alphabet
c. 270-c.232 BC	Ashoka creates rock edicts in Brahmi and Kharosthi script, northern India
221 BC	Qin dynasty reforms Chinese character spelling
c. 2nd cent. BC	Paper invented, China
1st cent. AD	Dead Sea Scrolls written in Aramaic/Hebrew script
75 AD	Last inscription written in cuneiform
2nd cent.	Rumic isncriptions begin, northern Europe
394	Last written Egyptian hieroglyphs
615-683	Pascal, Classic Mayaruler of Palenque, Mexico
712	Kojiki , earlies work of Japanese literature (in Chinese cahracters)
Before 800	Printing invented, China
9th cent.	Cyrillic alphabet invented, Russia
1418-1450	Sejong, king of Korea, reigns, invents Hangul apphabet
15th cent.	Movable type invented, Europe
1560s	Diego de Landa records Mayan alphabet, Yucatan
1799	Rosetta stone discovered, Egypt
1821	Cherokee alphabet invented by Sequoya, USA
1823	Egyptian hieroglyphs deciphered by Champollion
1840s onward	Mesopotamian cuneiform deciphered by Rawlinson, Hincks and others
1867	Typewriter invented
1899	Oracle bone inscriptions discovered, China
1900	Knossos discovered by Evans, who indentifies Cretan Linear A & B
1905	Proto-Senaitic inscriptions discovered by Petrie, Serabit el Khadim, Sinai
1908	Phaistons Disc discovered , Crete
1920s	Indus civilization discovered
1940s	Electronic computers invented
1948	Hebrew becomes a national language in Israel
1953	Linear B deciphered by Ventris
1950s onward	Myan glyphs deciphered
1958	Pinylin spelling introduced in China
1980s	Wordprocessors invented, writing becomes electronic
Fall 1998	Connections: From Cave Paintings to Hypertext