Submitted by Waspie Dwarf: Chinese archaeologists studying ancient rock carvings say they have evidence that modern Chinese script is thousands of years older than previously thought. State media say researchers identified more than 2,000 pictorial symbols dating back 8,000 years, on cliff faces in the north-west of the country. They say many of these symbols bear a strong resemblance to later forms of ancient Chinese characters. Scholars had thought Chinese symbols came into use about 4,500 years ago. The Damaidi carvings, first discovered in the 1980s, cover 15 sq km (5.8 square miles) and feature more than 8,000 individual figures including the sun, moon, stars, gods and scenes of hunting or grazing.

"We have found some symbols shaped like both pictures and characters," Li Xiangshi, a cliff carving expert at the North University of Nationalities in Ningxia Hui autonomous region, told Xinhua news agency. "The pictographs are similar to the ancient hieroglyphs of Chinese characters and many can be identified as ancient characters." Until the discovery, the earliest characters included 4,500-year-old inscriptions on pottery from Henan province in central China.

View: Full Article | Source: BBC News

hmm sorry, im wondering whats the oldest known scripture ?

I don't get it...writings go back further than 8 thousand years...

Previously it was thought to be 5500 BCE, in the Pakistan area (Semerian). You ever notice China is becoming more and more the hub of everything civilized in the world from bathing to writing now. ha



Huh? Says who?

Really? In an art class, I was told it was the Mesopotamians around 3000 B.C. But I concur!

This is correct, but fairly recently the Sumerians and the Egyptians have been back and forth with which writing was earliest, because of recent findings.

The Sumerian script, cuneiform, is considered to be the oldest because in the earliest evidence of it we have, 3500 BCE or so, it was already fully formed and in sophisticated use. We have no examples of cuneiform in its formative stages.

The Egyptian script, hieroglyphics, on the other hand, has been found on objects that display its formative stages. These date to about the same era.

From the BBC source:


It's not writing if it's not used to convey a message. It could be that at some point the Chinese scholars will figure out that these symbols actually spell out some message. But until that point, this can only be considered to be rock art.

Harte

Yes, you are right. What I meant to say was BP, before present. Oops.
Bad, no cookie.

The people of ancient Jericho had up to 10 thousand years ago if I recall...

Never heard of that. Though I'd be interested in seeing any evidence you may have come across. That would be pretty cool.

No they didn't.

Jericho did exist that far back, though (further, really.) The city was founded sometime around 9500 - 10,000 BCE. As far as we know, anyway. That's more like 12,000 years ago.

Harte

Hmm, I just figured once a culture had been established they'd have sense enough to actually come up with their own writing...guess I gave em too much credit.