ANCIENT SCRIPT
A petroglyph is an image carved or etched into rock. Essentially, a petroglyph is made by scratching away the uppermost surface of a rock to reveal rock of a different colour underneath. The petroglyph is among the earliest known forms of art and record-keeping and prehistoric petroglyphs exist around the globe, some dating back as far as 10,000 years.
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Petroglyph panel along Potash-Lower Colorado River Scenic Byway
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Hieroglyphics are formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that combined logographic and alphabetic elements. Hieroglyphs were called, by the Egyptians, "the words of God" and were used mainly by the priests. These painstakingly drawn symbols were great for decorating the walls of temples but for conducting day to day business there was another script, known as hierarchic. This was a handwriting in which the picture signs were abbreviated to the point of
abstraction. Hieroglyphs are written in rows or columns and can be read
from left to right or from right to left. You can distinguish the direction in
which the text is to be read because the human or animal figures always face
towards the beginning of the line. Also the upper symbols are read before the
lower.
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Ideograms are the visual communication of the modern era, used for quick communication and understanding without using words and using symbols. The term "ideogram" is commonly used to describe logographic writing systems such as Egyptian hieroglyphs and Chinese characters. However, symbols in logographic systems generally represent words or morphemes rather than pure ideas.
Pictographs are often used in writing and graphic systems in which the characters are to a considerable extent pictorial in appearance. Early written symbols were based on pictographs (pictures which resemble what they signify) and ideograms (symbols which represent ideas). Ancient Sumerian, Egyptian, and Chinese civilizations began to use such symbols over, developing them into logographic writing systems. Pictographs are still in use as the main medium of written communication in some non-literate cultures in Africa, The Americas, and Oceania. Pictographs are often used as simple, pictorial, representational symbols by most contemporary cultures.
An alphabet is a standard set of letters (basic written symbols or graphemes) which is used to write one or more languages based on the general principle that the letters represent phonemes (basic significant sounds) of the spoken language. Alphabet letter form, strokes and style vary from culture to culture, and country to country. Many countries may still use the old style of alphabets from ancient day while others have evolved tremendously.There are many alphabet forms in the world. Three alphabet forms in the world are Armenian , Greek and Latin. The Latin alphabet is the western standard today.
The qoph is the 19th letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It is usually suggested to have originally depicted either a sewing needle. The origin of Qoph is usually thought to have come from a pictogram of a monkey, with the body and tail.
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Alphabetic codes
Alphabetic codes are universal and are at our disposal as a resource if we want to learn each or specific alphabet codes. They have that one meaning and of the other, and cannot be changed.
Modern communication tools
Modern communication tools that combine pictographic/ ideogrammatic/ alphabetic codes are mobile devices, computers, traffic signs and websites. The Chinese language was born from pictures just as the Latin alphabet was but it took a whole different direction than the western phonetic idea using characters and forming others by merging together two or more characters such as the symbol for train
Alphabetic codes are universal and are at our disposal as a resource if we want to learn each or specific alphabet codes. They have that one meaning and of the other, and cannot be changed.
Modern communication tools
Modern communication tools that combine pictographic/ ideogrammatic/ alphabetic codes are mobile devices, computers, traffic signs and websites. The Chinese language was born from pictures just as the Latin alphabet was but it took a whole different direction than the western phonetic idea using characters and forming others by merging together two or more characters such as the symbol for train
Papyrus and Paper
whats the difference?
Papyrus is a product of the water reed of the same name found along the banks of the Nile River in Egypt. It was probably made from the outer skin since the centre is pithy. Layers of the reed were laid on a stone slab side by side and the next layer was laid on top of the first at right angles to those on the bottom. The whole mass was then moistened with water, pressed, and dried, resulting in a laminated mass. The dried material was hammered to make it more compact and rubbed with a smooth stone to produce a writing surface.
Paper developed separately in China around 200 BCE. It differs from papyrus in that the plants have been beaten to separate the fibres, suspended evenly in water, placed on a webbing to drain off the water, and dried. The beating allows a hydrogen bonding to form between the fibres. This hydrogen bonding gives paper its cohesion and tearing strength. Paper can be made from any cellulose-containing plant such as cotton, hemp, wood chips, bagasse, straw, kenaf, etc. Paper derives its name from papyrus and is a transferred application of an old name to a new material.
Six surfaces used for writing and painting before the advent of paper were wood, stone, metal, clay, papyrus and parchment(animal skin).
Tools used for scribing on theses surfaces are the styli, bronze or bone tool, styluses with sharp triangular tips, reed brushes or reed pens and a quill pen.
whats the difference?
Papyrus is a product of the water reed of the same name found along the banks of the Nile River in Egypt. It was probably made from the outer skin since the centre is pithy. Layers of the reed were laid on a stone slab side by side and the next layer was laid on top of the first at right angles to those on the bottom. The whole mass was then moistened with water, pressed, and dried, resulting in a laminated mass. The dried material was hammered to make it more compact and rubbed with a smooth stone to produce a writing surface.
Paper developed separately in China around 200 BCE. It differs from papyrus in that the plants have been beaten to separate the fibres, suspended evenly in water, placed on a webbing to drain off the water, and dried. The beating allows a hydrogen bonding to form between the fibres. This hydrogen bonding gives paper its cohesion and tearing strength. Paper can be made from any cellulose-containing plant such as cotton, hemp, wood chips, bagasse, straw, kenaf, etc. Paper derives its name from papyrus and is a transferred application of an old name to a new material.
Six surfaces used for writing and painting before the advent of paper were wood, stone, metal, clay, papyrus and parchment(animal skin).
Tools used for scribing on theses surfaces are the styli, bronze or bone tool, styluses with sharp triangular tips, reed brushes or reed pens and a quill pen.