Communication Prior to the Printing Press Michael Jackson.

Communication Prior to the Printing Press

Michael Jackson

35,000 BCE Musical instruments emerged.

The bone flute was created for enjoyment; however, I believe it could have also been used as a sort of alarm or alert system.

10,000 BCE Notches in bones found in the Near East believed to be a lunar calendar.

The meaning of the marks are largely unknown; however, it is evident that they served a purpose at some point.

8,000 BCE Clay tokens appear in Sumer which may symbolize goods like sheep jars of

oil.

It’s a precursor to writing.

These tokens were an entirely new medium for conveying information. Each token shape: cone, sphere, disk, etc., had a different meaning.

The token system was the first code and the earliest system of signs used for transmitting information.

Samples of clay tokens (counters)

3500 BCE Pictographic writing starts in Sumer and Elam.

It’s the earliest stage of inscriptions.

Tokens representing goods are placed in clay ball envelopes.

In order to show what was inside the envelopes, they press the tokens into the clay in the outside.

3372 BCE This is the start of the Mayan calendar.

3100 BCE Sumerians cuneiform numerals separate from symbols of goods.

Sharp sticks were pressed into wet clay so that information could be sent elsewhere (using tablets).

There were approximately 600 signs.

3000 BCE Egyptians developed hieroglyphics.

They were used for records and literature.

3000 BCE In the Mediterranean or Near East, the abacus is derived from counting

boards.

Mathematics emerges.

2700 BCE Chinese ink is made from a mixture of soot, pine smoke, lamp oil, musk, and

gelatin from donkey skin.

2640 BCE China produces silk which is used as a writing surface before paper.

2600 BCE Scribes in Egypt employ hieratic writing, a condensed, cursive hieroglyphic.

It is called “Cursive Script.”

2500 BCE Oral language could now be recorded by written language. It could now be

read aloud and more records were likely kept because of this.

2200 BCE Oldest existing document written on papyrus.

2060 BCE The king of Ur in Sumeria, Ur-Nammu, creates the first known code of law.

2000 BCE Sundials are in the Fertile Crescent.

2000 BCE The first known written legend is born in Sumer.

Gilgamesh, a poetic Noah’s ark tale.

2000 BCE Percussion instruments are played in Egypt.

Possibly used for ceremonial purposes.

2000 BCE First signed text appears, written by Enheduanna, a woman in

Mesopotamia.

1700 BCE The written law code of Hammurabi is carved on a stone pillar in Babylonia.

This way, laws were easily known rather than just spreading them verbally.

1650 BCE Hieroglyphics begin forming alphabetic symbols which are found in Sinai

inscriptions.

1500 BCE In India, sacred hymns of the Rig Veda are written in Sanskrit.

1500 BCE Babylonian mathematicians figure out the Pythagorean Theorem.

1400 BCE Oldest record of writing in China is on bones and tortoise shells.

1200 BCE The 22 letters, all consonant, Phoenician alphabet is developed.

950 BCE The first books of the Bible are written.

Stories that had been told verbally were now being written down.

900 BCE Spread of phonetic alphabet throughout the Mediterranean region.

900 BCE Postal service is organized for government use.

900 BCE Oldest Hebrew text in existence.

Clay tablets lists the months of the year.

800 BCE The Phoenician alphabet is improved by adding vowels; capital letters only.

600 BCE Left-to-right writing is agreed upon by Mediterranean cultures.

600 BCE The first appearance of Latin.

400 BCE Democritus originates the theory that matter consists of colliding atoms.

399 BCE Socrates drinks poison and nothing written by the famed philosopher

survives.

396 BCE Plato’s Apologia defends Socrates.

387 BCE Plato’s Symposium uses Socratic logic.

350 BCE Aristotle explains logical reasoning in Organon.

322 BCE Death of Aristotle, collector of human knowledge.

213 BCE The Chinese emperor orders destruction of all books.

59 BCE The Acta Diurna, the first daily news service, appears.

47 BCE Julius Caesar’s troops set fire to the Alexandrian Library.

Although it survives, many books are lost.

14 CE A network of relay runner setup in Rome carries messages 50 miles in a day.

105 CE Paper is invented in China by imperial eunuch Ts’ai.

400 CE Writing systems and vocabulary spread from India to Southeast Asia.

400 CE Books cut into pages and bound are now preferred to scrolls.

550 CE Block printing (xylography) is created in China.

Print could now be stamped onto surfaces, which cut down on handwriting, which was time consuming.

600 CE Quills are made from crow’s feathers, which increased the ease and

accessibility of writing.

740 CE A newspaper is printed in China.

751 CE Paper travels west after Muslims obtain Chinese citizens that know how to

make it.

1200 BCE Books are copied and sold for a profit, typically by universities.

1234 CE Koreans begin using movable metal type, which were an important step

before Gutenberg’s printing press.

1276 CE The first European paper mill is created.

1280 CE Mechanical clicks using weights and gears started replacing water clocks.

1305 CE Taxis family begins the first postal service in Europe. The word “taxi” comes

from them.

Bibliography http://www.sumerian.org/tokens.htm

http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/jamm445hart/timeline.htm

http://www.mediahistory.umn.edu/timeline/

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/sumerian.htm

http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/wsrp/educational_site/ancient_texts/Cuneiform.shtml