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/lit/ - Literature

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1894866 No.1894866 [Reply] [Original]

What are the earliest recorded writings? Ever.

>> No.1894874

>Ask interesting, legitimate question
>Pair it with picture from emojailbait.com

>> No.1894877

>>1894866
I never noticed emojailbait.com down the bottom before. Damn.

>> No.1894878
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1894878

Sumerian Cunieform, I believe. As for works, I think Gilgamesh might be the oldest.

But you'll have to fact check me on both of those. Been a while since I read about the subject.

>> No.1894880

>>1894874

> interesting question gets asked
> don't answer it
> instead, comment about unrelated picture

Stay classy, /lit/

>> No.1894882

>>1894878
Thanks bro will check out gilgamesh.

>> No.1894883

Depending how you define "writing," the earliest written anything would be carving tallies into stone and wood to count things, which has been done for at least 40,000 years.

>> No.1894884

The London Museum of History houses an early 'Just a Minute, with Nicholas Parsons' script. It is believed that it dates c.4100BC.

>> No.1894892

>>1894878
I found this too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_Etana

>> No.1894903

>>1894866
As somebody said before, it's sumerian cuneiform, i highly doubt theres a specific piece of writing that is singled out as the first, but the first that is kind of really well known is the epic of gilgamesh. i remember reading about a few other works though, particularly a priestess who wrote the first works of poetry, in honour of some goddess.

>> No.1894911

Sumerian cuneiform is the earliest writing we can make sense of, if I recall correctly.

There are signs of writing and squiggly lines that could've been a written language in older temple ruins like Gobleki Tepe and even older ones in caves, dating up to 40.000 BC.
The earliest of Sumerian writings we actually have are shopping lists, records of trade and treaties amongst villages.
I've read a LOT of sumerian texts, even the boring lists, I just find it fascinating even so. Currently trying to learn sumerian.

You should look at the "Lament for Ur". Moving piece of writing, and it was written in 2000 BC.
http://history-world.org/lament_for_ur.htm

>> No.1894920
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1894920

>>1894883

Citation definitely required. The oldest writing system I know of is the Jiahu tortoise, and that's far from a consistent language, The Dispilio tablet is another candidate for earliest proto-writing, they're both around 8000 years old.

There's an article at http://www.realhistoryww.com/world_history/ancient/Misc/Writing/The_first_ancient_writing.htm

which discusses both of these.

>> No.1894922

>>1894884

And he's still using the same jokes.

>> No.1894929
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1894929

>>1894920

>> No.1894958

So what, nobody's going to make a claim for petroglyphs as being the earliest form of recorded writing? Cause they are.

>> No.1894960

>>1894958
I think you and a few others are going at this from a historian's point of view, which is fine, but being on a literature board, sumerian is probably the best answer for OP, because they produced lit.

>> No.1894964

>>1894960

Okay, but from the perspective of /lit/, how is this petroglyph....

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/MtnSheepPetroglyph.jpg

....any different from that William Carlos Williams poem about eating all the plums in the icebox? I mean, it's the same thing. The only difference is the form of written communication employed.

I just wanted to say
I ate all the
bighorn sheep in the
Utah desert, and
all of the
woolly mammooth
on the continent:
forgive me, they were
tasty and delicious, and
now the Clovis Culture
will go extinct

>> No.1894974

>>1894964

I think it's a bit of a stretch, to be honest. If this is the case then there's no difference between a picasso painting and one of Eliot's poems - the only difference is the form of visual communication used. Petroglyphs of the sheep are closer to a painting (and are probably a form of religio-magical ritual) than to wrotong.

I like your poem though. chuckled gently.

>> No.1894979

i remember my parents teaching me letters for preschool. i cannot confirm anything before that, op.

xD