Our World

New Writing System Discovered

I found in a recent article that an ancient writing system has been discovered in Mexico that dates back to about 900 B.C. Archaeologists from Brown University analyzed the green stone tablet and found it was composed 300 years earlier than any other known writing system in North or South America. The tablet was created by people of the Olmec civilization and has 28 symbols that are much like letters of an alphabet. What really surprised me was that the stone was found by Mexican villagers in 1999. One would think such an important find would not have been withheld from the public, especially with the prominent impact of globalization on communication.

This archaeological find is a perfect representation of how culture and language are linked. Through the language on the tablet, it is now possible to see how developed and advanced the Olmec culture was. There is also a vast amount of knowledge that can be learned once the symbols are translated. Most aspects of history focus on how advanced society was in the Eastern Hemisphere, but this proves that great advancements were occurring across the globe at this point.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/09/15/earliest.writing.ap/index.html?section=cnn_topstories

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/09/060914-oldest-writing_2.html

posted by Anonymous @ 9/17/2006 05:47:00 PM