Writing and Civilization

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Writing and Civilization
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Writing

• Pictograph/Ideograph gt Logograms
• Syllabary
• Alphabet

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Background to Sumerian Writing

• Small clay tokens
• symbols of standard measures
• Inscription of tokens
• a symbol on the symbol
• Inscription of Tablets

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Sumerian
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Phoenician 1000 BCE
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Egyptian
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Phoenician 1000 BCE
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Linear B Mycenaean
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Chinese
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Mayan
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Hiragana Katakana
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• Independent Invention
• Mesopotamia/Fertile Crescent
• 3000 BCE
• Mesoamerica
• 600 BCE
• Stimulus Diffusion
• Blueprint Copying

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Writing and State Society

• Writing is a kind of technology that also leads
  to inequality
• Connected with state civilization
• Unequal literacy
• Political control

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Good luck on Monday!