Proto-writing
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Proto-writing consists of visible marks communicating limited information. Such systems emerged from earlier traditions of symbol systems in the early Neolithic, as early as the 7th millennium BC Chin
Turtle plastron from Jiahu inscribed with an eye-like symbol
Clay amulet, one of the Tărtăria tablets, dated to c. 5300 BC
The Cascajal block, dated c. 900 BCE and associated with Olmec hieroglyphs.
Sumer
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Sumer is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia, emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the 5th and 4th millennium BC. Like n
Proto-writing
…According to some scholars, the proto-cuneiform tablets (c. 3350–3000 BC) reflects the stage of writing, when what would become the cuneiform script of Sumer was still in the proto-writing stage, because it was a system based on numerical and logographic signs, lacking phonetic signs (or only a few). This…
The Blau Monuments combine proto-cuneiform characters and illustrations of early Sumerians, Jemdet Nasr period, 3100–2700 BC. British Museum.
Enthroned Sumerian king of Ur, possibly Ur-Pabilsag, with attendants. Standard of Ur, c. 2600 BC.
Portrait of a Sumerian prisoner on a victory stele of Sargon of Akkad, c. 2300 BC. The hairstyle of the prisoners (curly hair on top and short hair on the sides) is characteristic of Sumerians, as also seen on the Standard of Ur. Louvre Museum.
A pottery jar from the Late Ubaid Period