- CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Clay tablets uncovered in southern Egypt from the
tomb of a king named Scorpion may represent the earliest known writing
by humankind, an archaeologist said Tuesday.
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- If confirmed, the discovery would rank
among the greatest ever in the search for the origins of the written word.
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- But the subject they mostly deal with
may be of no surprise at all. It's taxes.
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- Gunter Dreyer, head of the German Archaeological
Institute, said the tablets record linen and oil deliveries made about
5,300 years ago as tithe to King Scorpion I.
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- These two clay tablets were unearthed
in the tomb of King Scorpion I in a cemetery 300 miles south of Cairo.
According to scholars the writings on the left tablet depict Mountains
of Darkness, or west, and the right tablet depicts Mountains of Light,
or east, in reference to where the sun sets or rises. The discovery throws
open for debate a widely held belief among historians that the first
people to write were the Sumerians of the Mesopotamian civilization sometime
before 3,000 B.C., or 5,000 years ago (AP).
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- He said the tablets have been carbon-dated
with certainty to between 3300 B.C. and 3200 B.C.
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- The discovery throws open for debate
a widely held belief among historians that the first people to write were
the Sumerians of the Mesopotamian civilization sometime before 3000 B.C.
The exact date of Sumerian writing remains in doubt.
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- The Egyptian writings - in the form of
line drawings of animals, plants and mountains - are the first evidence
that hieroglyphics used by later-day Pharaonic dynasties did not ''rise
as Phoenix from the ashes'' but developed gradually, Dreyer said.
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- ''Linguists now have a larger history
(of writing) to regard,'' he said.
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- One American archaeologist called the
tablets an ''exciting'' find.
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- ''This would be one of the greatest discoveries
in the history of writing and ancient Egyptian culture,'' Kent Weeks, professor
of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, told The Associated
Press.
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- But John Baines, a professor of Egyptology
at Oxford University, was more cautious.
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- ''Undoubtedly, (Dreyer's) findings are
very important, but I have an open mind on this and would like to see''
more evidence on the comparative ages of the Egyptian and Mesopotamian
samples, Baines said in a telephone interview.
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- At this point, ''I would say it is likely
that writing was invented in both places,'' he said.
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- The bulk of Dreyer's discovery was from
Scorpion's tomb in a cemetery in the Suhag province, 300 miles south of
Cairo.
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- Like many kings in pre-Pharaonic times,
Scorpion took the name of an animal. Records have been found of chieftains
named Mouse, Falcon, Double Falcon and Elephant before the first Pharaonic
dynasty began in 2920 B.C. The Great Pyramid was not built until nearly
400 years later.
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- Since 1985, Dreyer and his team have
unearthed about 300 pieces of written material on clay tablets barely bigger
than postage stamps and clay jars and vases with ink impressions.
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- Dreyer said the writings were not a creative
outpouring, but the result economic necessity: When chieftains expanded
their areas of control they needed to keep a record of taxes, which were
paid in commodities.
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- Two-thirds of the tablets have been deciphered
as accounts of linen and oil delivered to King Scorpion in taxes, short
notes, numbers, lists of kings' names and names of institutions.
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- Although the records are made up of symbols,
they are considered true writing because each symbol stands for a consonant
and makes up syllables.
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- For example, the city named Ba-set was
written by putting together a throne, known as Ba, and a stork, set. Similarly,
Ju Gereh - Mountain of Darkness, a reference to its location in the west
where the sun set - was designated with those symbols.
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- Fish, the word for delivery, appears
on many tablets against the names of settlements.
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- Apart from the academic question of who
came first, Dreyer said, the writings prove that the early Egyptian society
was far more developed than previously thought.
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- ''In principle, they were able to express
themselves clearly,'' he said.
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