Listen&Learn: History of Writing

Learn how ancient cultures invented written communication

Pre-listening vocabulary

• independent: having no help or influence from anyone else
• civilization: an advanced group of people living together
• scribe: someone who writes or copies important information
• pictograph: a drawing that looks like the thing it represents
• trade: the exchange of items between people or places
• abstract: representing an idea without looking like a real item

Listening activity

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Gapfill exercise

Throughout history, at least three have independently invented written . Ancient writing systems can be traced to the Mesopotamian, Chinese, and Maya civilizations. The first known writing system originated in Sumer, a Mesopotamian civilization in modern-day Iraq. The Sumerians used clay tokens to track their supply. They carved small pictures into the tokens to represent an amount of or grain. Around 3500 BCE, scribes began to arrange these pictographs into more detailed . Written were useful for sending trade information over long distances. Over time, the symbols used by Sumerian scribes became more abstract. They evolved into a complex writing system, called “cuneiform,” which many languages used for thousands of years.

Comprehension questions

See answers below

1. Throughout history, writing was independently invented
   a. once
   b. twice
   c. three times
   
2. The first known writing system came from
   a. the Chinese
   b. the Maya
   c. the Sumerians
   
3. The Sumerian writing system began as
   a. flat pictographs
   b. clay tokens
   c. abstract symbols

Discussion/essay questions

1. Chinese characters are the oldest writing system still in use. Why do you think they have survived so long?
2. English uses the Latin alphabet. What writing system does your first language use? Where did it evolve from?

Transcript

Throughout history, at least three cultures have independently invented written language. Ancient writing systems can be traced to the Mesopotamian, Chinese, and Maya civilizations. The first known writing system originated in Sumer, a Mesopotamian civilization in modern-day Iraq. The Sumerians used clay tokens to track their food supply. They carved small pictures into the tokens to represent an amount of animals or grain. Around 3500 BCE, scribes began to arrange these pictographs into more detailed messages. Written messages were useful for sending trade information over long distances. Over time, the symbols used by Sumerian scribes became more abstract. They evolved into a complex writing system, called “cuneiform,” which many languages used for thousands of years.

Answers to comprehension questions

1c 2c 3b