Chapter 1 – The Invention of Writing

Introduction, 6

Prehistoric visual communication, 7

The cradle of civilization, 8

The earliest writing, 9

Mesopotamian visual identification, 12

Egyptian hieroglyphs, 12

Papyrus and writing, 16

The first illustrated manuscripts, 18

Egyptian visual identification, 19

Key Terms (in order of appearance; the first page number of their appearance is listed)

  1. Substrate, page 6, a surface, as a writing surface.
  2. Pictograph, page 7, an elementary picture or sketch representing the thing depicted.
  3. Petroglyph, page 7, (Fig. 1-2)
  4. Ideograph, page 7, (Fig. 1-3)
  5. Mesopotamia, page 8
  6. Sumerians, page 9
  7. Ziggurat, page 9
  8. Cuneiform, page 9, (Figs. 1-8, 1-9, 1-10, 1-11, 1-12, and 1-13)
  9. Rebus writing, page 11, (Fig. 1-25)
  10. Phonogram, page 11
  11. Scribe, page 11
  12. Edubba, page 11
  13. Stele, page 11, (Figs. 1-16 and 1-17)
  14. Cylinder seal, page 12, (Fig. 1-18 through 1-20)
  15. Hieroglyphics, page 12, (Figs. 1-21 through 1-32)
  16. Rosetta Stone, page 12, (Fig. 1-22 and 1-23)
  17. Determinatives, page 15
  18. Obelisk, page 15
  19. Cartouche, page 15, (Fig. 1-23 and 1-24)
  20. Ankh, page 15, (see Fig. 1-31)
  21. Papyrus, page 16
  22. Verso, page 16
  23. Recto, page 16
  24. Hieratic script, page 18, (Fig. 1-30)
  25. Demotic script, page 18, (Fig. 1-30)
  26. Papyrus manuscripts, page 19
  27. The Book of the Dead, page 19, (Fig. 1-31)
  28. Pyramid text, page 19
  29. Coffin texts, page 19

Key People and their Major Contributions(in order of appearance; the first page number of their appearance is listed)

  1. Hammurabi, page 11, (Fig. 1-16)
  2. Dr. Thomas Young (1773–1829), page 12 (Fig. 1-22)
  3. Jean-François Champollion (1790–1832) page 15, (Fig. 1-24)

Chapter 1 – Study Questions

Multiple Choice

  1. It is not known precisely when or where the biological species of conscious, thinking people, Homo sapiens, emerged. It is believed that we evolved from a species that lived in the southern part of ______.
  2. Europe
  3. Africa
  4. Australia
  5. China
  6. These early hominids ventured out onto the grassy plains and into ______as the forests slowly disappeared in that part of the world. In the tall grass, they began to stand erect and their hands developed an ability to carry food and hold objects.
  7. canyons
  8. caves
  9. trees
  10. mountains
  11. Found near Lake Turkana in ______, a nearly three-million-year-old stone that had been sharpened into an implement proves the thoughtful and deliberate development of a technology—a tool—which may have been used to dig for roots or to cut away flesh from dead animals for food.
  12. Kenya
  13. Spain
  14. France
  15. Turkey
  16. A number of quantum leaps provided the capacity to organize a community and gain some measure of control over human destiny. Speech—the ability to make sounds in order to communicate—was an early skill developed by the species on the long evolutionary trail from its archaic beginnings. ______is the visual counterpart of speech.
  17. Talking
  18. Painting
  19. Writing
  20. Drawing
  21. The invention of writing brought people the luster of civilization and made it possible to preserve hard-won knowledge, experiences, and thoughts. The development of visible language had its earliest origins in ______.
  22. letterforms
  23. abstract color fields
  24. simple pictures
  25. hieroglyphs
  26. From the early Paleolithic to the Neolithic period (35,000–4000 B.C.), early Africans and Europeans left paintings in caves, including the Lascaux caves in Franceand ______.
  27. the grassy plains of southern Africa
  28. Lake Turkana in Kenya
  29. Altamira in Spain
  30. the Persian Gulf region
  31. These early cave drawings were probably created for three of the reasons below. Which does NOT belong? ______
  32. art
  33. ritual
  34. survival
  35. utility
  36. The animals and objects painted on the caves are ______elementary pictures or sketches representing the things depicted.
  37. petroglyphs
  38. ideographs
  39. phonograms
  40. pictographs
  41. Throughout the world, from Africa to North America to the islands of New Zealand, prehistoric people left numerous ______, which are carved or scratched signs or simple figures on rocks.
  42. petroglyphs
  43. ideographs
  44. phonograms
  45. pictographs
  46. Some of the carved or scratched signs on the rocks may be ______, or symbols to represent ideas or concepts.
  47. petroglyphs
  48. ideographs
  49. phonograms
  50. pictographs
  51. By the late Paleolithic period, some ______had been reduced to the point that they almost resembled letters.
  52. petroglyphs and phonograms
  53. petroglyphs and pictographs
  54. phonograms and pictographs
  55. petroglyphs and ideographs
  56. Until recent discoveries indicated that early peoples in Thailand may have practiced agriculture and manufactured pottery at an even earlier date, archaeologists had long believed that the ancient land of ______, “the land between rivers,” was the cradle of civilization.
  57. Kenya
  58. Mesopotamia
  59. Egypt
  60. Turkey
  61. In “the land between rivers,” early humans ceased their restless nomadic wanderings and established a village society. Around 8000 B.C., wild grain was planted, animals were domesticated, and agriculture began. By the year 6000 B.C., objects were being hammered from copper. The Bronze Age was ushered in about 3000 B.C., when copper was alloyed with tin to make durable tools and weapons; the invention of the wheel followed. The leap from village culture to high civilization occurred after the ______people arrived near the end of the fourth millennium B.C.
  62. Hittite
  63. Babylonian
  64. Persian
  65. Sumerian
  66. Of the numerous inventions that launched people onto the path of civilization, the invention of ______brought about an intellectual revolution that had a vast impact upon social order, economic progress, and technological and future cultural developments.
  67. a system of gods
  68. architecture
  69. writing
  70. a god-man relationship
  71. Writing may have evolved in Sumeria because ancient temple chiefs needed ______.
  72. ornament for the ziggurat
  73. to employ scribes
  74. to keep records systematically
  75. intellectual stimulation
  76. The ______may be the oldest extant artifact combining words and pictures on the same surface.
  77. Rosetta stone
  78. Blau monument
  79. Code of Hammurabi
  80. Sarcophagus of Aspalta
  81. The stele of Hammurabi, who reigned from 1792–1750 B.C., is an artifact of the Babylonian culture written in careful cuneiform. The text contains ______.
  82. a code of laws and consequences for violating them
  83. a narrative about Hammurabi’s military conquests
  84. annual records of crop production from the late eighteenth century B.C.
  85. a calendar of important Babylonian holy days
  86. Two natural byproducts of the rise of village culture were the ownership of property and the specialization of trades or crafts. Both made visual identification necessary. Proprietary marks and ______were first developed so that ownership could be established.
  87. cattle brands
  88. printing
  89. symbols
  90. contracts
  91. In Mesopotamia, ______provided a forgery-proof method for sealing documents and proving their authenticity. Images and writing were etched into their surfaces. When they were rolled across a damp clay tablet, a raised impression of the depressed design, which became a “trademark” for the owner, was formed.
  92. finger prints
  93. cylinder seals
  94. adhesive made from papyrus
  95. Persian chalcedony stamps
  96. All but one of the scripts listed below is found on the Rosetta Stone. Which does NOT belong? ______
  97. Greek
  98. Latin
  99. hieroglyphic
  100. demotic
  101. The third phase in the evolution of ______was the Book of the Dead.
  102. biographies
  103. papyri
  104. funerary texts
  105. written communication
  106. Three of the following are characteristics of ancient Egyptian illustrated manuscripts. Which does NOT belong? ______
  107. Important persons were shown in larger scale than other persons.
  108. One or two horizontal bands, usually colored, ran across the top and bottom of the manuscript.
  109. Images were inserted on separate pages opposite the text they illustrated.
  110. A sheet was sometimes divided into rectangular zones to separate text and images.
  111. The ancient Egyptians inherited the use of ______from the Sumerians.
  112. papyrus
  113. identification seals
  114. books of the dead
  115. writing palettes

Matching

  1. Match the following terms with their correct definition:
  2. determinatives ____
  3. cartouche ____
  4. hieroglyphics ____
  5. homonyms ____
  6. ankh ____
  7. obelisk ____
  1. This hieroglyph of a cross surmounted by a loop had modest origins as the symbol for a sandal strap yet gained meaning as a symbol for life and immortality.
  2. Having the same name
  3. Egyptian pictograms that depict objects or beings
  4. Signs that indicate how the preceding glyph should be interpreted
  5. A tall, geometric, totem-like Egyptian monument
  6. F. Bracket-like plaques containing the glyphs of important names, such as Ptolemy and Cleopatra
  1. Match the following terms with their correct definition:
  2. demotic ____
  3. papyrus ____
  4. recto ____
  5. hieratic ____
  6. verso ____
  1. A paperlike substrate for manuscripts made from a plant that grew along the Nile in shallow marshes and pools
  2. The upper surface of horizontal fibers of the finished sheets of this Egyptian substrate
  3. The bottom surface of vertical fibers of the finished sheets of this Egyptian substrate
  4. A simplification of the hieroglyphic book hand developed by priests for religious writings, from the Greek word “priestly”
  5. An abstract script of the hieroglyphic book hand that came into secular use for commercial and legal writing, from the Greek word for “popular”
  1. Match the following terms with their correct definition:
  2. edduba ____
  3. ziggurat ____
  4. phonograms ____
  5. rebus ____
  6. stele ____
  7. cuneiform ____
  1. An inscribed or carved stone or slab used for commemorative purposes
  2. An abstract sign writing style from the Latin for “wedge shaped”
  3. A multistory stepped brick temple constructed as a series of recessed levels that were smaller toward the top
  4. Pictures representing words and syllables with the same or similar sound as the object depicted
  5. A writing school or “tablet house”
  6. Graphic symbols representing sounds

Image Identification

  1. Identify the title and the date of the following images:
  1. Fig. 1-1 ______
  2. Fig. 1-5 ______
  3. Fig. 1-16 ______
  4. Fig. 1-18 ______
  5. Fig. 1-22 ______
  6. Fig. 1-32 ______
  7. Figs. 1-33 and 1-34 ______
  1. Match each of the images shown with the correct name of the writing style used.
  1. Fig. 1-4 ____
  2. Fig. 1-8 ____
  3. Fig. 1-29 ____
  1. hieroglyphs
  2. petroglyphs
  3. cuneiform

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