How can we know about the history of events that happened before the invention of writing?
Log in Tan Zhou 7 years agoPosted 7 years ago. Direct link to Tan Zhou's post “Can someone help me expla...” Can someone help me explain the paradox of "the oldest written records archaeologists have discovered in Egypt are from over 5,000 years ago", and "Archaeologists have discovered written records in Egypt from 3200 BCE, which is the accepted date at which history begins there"? Which one is real? ? • (38 votes) Davin V Jones 7 years agoPosted 7 years ago. Direct link to Davin V Jones's post “3200 BCE is over 5000 yea...” 3200 BCE is over 5000 years ago. 3200 BCE + 2017 CE= 5217 years. (254 votes) Tatjana Blumfeld 7 years agoPosted 7 years ago. Direct link to Tatjana Blumfeld's post “The text says: "the oldes...” The text says: "the oldest written records archaeologists have discovered in Egypt are from over 5,000 years ago". Hieroglyphics are a form of writing with pictures. Maybe earlier societies used pictures to 'write' things too? How about Göbekli Tepe and all its depictions of animals? Perhaps they are actual words that we don't know how to read. It would make the oldest records 11500 years old. • (32 votes) ddagnachew 6 years agoPosted 6 years ago. Direct link to ddagnachew's post “The difference is that pi...” The difference is that pictures and paintings are merely illustration s, though they can communicate things. Where as hieroglyphics can be translated into meaning. Each individual hieroglyphic or set of hieroglyphic has a set meaning and value. It's like established communication, not really comparable to a picture of a bison, which doesn't mean more than someone painting an image of an animal they saw. 2004Cai.R 6 years agoPosted 6 years ago. Direct link to 2004Cai.R's post “How is writing defined? C...” How is writing defined? Can a group of symbols scratched on a rock representing something be considered writing? Or does it have to be a logical system with an alphabet and such? • (21 votes) David Alexander 6 years agoPosted 6 years ago. Direct link to David Alexander's post “Chinese characters are, t...” Chinese characters are, to some extent, pictographs. They have meaning. Of course, they've developed far from, and far away from, mere pictures, but there is a pictorial element to many of them. Just look up the characters for umbrella and for horse, as an example. (13 votes) 2134745 6 years agoPosted 6 years ago. Direct link to 2134745's post “how is a language conside...” how is a language considered dead if some historians and researchers still understand it • (7 votes) Christian Laube 6 years agoPosted 6 years ago. Direct link to Christian Laube's post “Languages do change and e...” Languages do change and evolve as long as they are used daily by lot's of people as their first language. Some words get popular and others fall out of fashion, pronounciations change and even the meaning of words changes. A language is considered dead if that does not happen anymore because it is not used for everyday conversation anymore, that does not mean no one can understand it or that it does not get used at all, just that there are not enough people left to use it so regularily that it still changes and has fashions. (31 votes) Alex 💚💙 a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to Alex 💚💙's post “My answers for the "What ...” My answers for the "What do you think?" **DISCLAIMER This is what I think. I may be wrong, but I just thought it would be fun to post what I think :)**: Should prehistory and history be divided as they currently are—prehistory meaning before writing, and history meaning after writing? I think they should be. My explanation for this doesn't have any back up information, but I think it would be beneficial for people to put in new findings: "Prehistory" or "History (after writing history)". It might help in the future. What are some other ways archaeologists and historians might consider dividing the study of the past? Some other ways they may consider dividing the study of the past is by different groups of years. For example, the archaeologists and historians could make three groups. One would be 5000 BC. to 3000 BC. The second one would be 3000 BC. to 1000 BC. Lastly, the group would be 1000 BC. to 1000 AD. It might help when learning about the past of the evolution of an empire. They could classify it into those groups to help them understand more about the evolution of change during each of the periods. How much information—artifacts, fossils, or other evidence—do you think needs to be present in order for something to be “knowable”? This answer is inconclusive. I feel like it would be different for different information that needs to be found. Well, that's all! Sorry for it being so long. I also posted this because I like to hear other people's opinions. :) Have a good day! • (19 votes) tai rahul 6 years agoPosted 6 years ago. Direct link to tai rahul's post “what is the difference be...” what is the difference between archeology and palentology • (7 votes) Elizabeth Pruiksma 6 years agoPosted 6 years ago. Direct link to Elizabeth Pruiksma's post “archeology, the study of ...” archeology, the study of human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artifacts and other physical remains. Paleontology or palaeontology is the scientific study of life existent prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene Epoch roughly 11,700 years before present. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments. (7 votes) Nicole Cottman 6 years agoPosted 6 years ago. Direct link to Nicole Cottman's post “the third bullet point at...” the third bullet point at the top says that hieroglyphs in Egypt were the oldest writing found, from 3200 BCE, but wasn't Sumerian text created in 3000 BCE? so wouldn't that be the start of history or are my facts wrong? • (3 votes) rzhang a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to rzhang's post “3200 BCE was before 3000 ...” 3200 BCE was before 3000 BCE (3 votes) AContreras792 5 years agoPosted 5 years ago. Direct link to AContreras792's post “Is it safe to say that th...” Is it safe to say that the hieroglyphics on the Rosetta stone that was translated into Greek could have been translated totally incorrect? • (5 votes) David Alexander 5 years agoPosted 5 years ago. Direct link to David Alexander's post “All translation is treaso...” All translation is treason, so you can safely say that it was translated incorrectly, BUT, if the same "translation standard" as used on the Rosetta stone was applied to other texts in hieroglyphics and the translations came out making sense, then you'd have a hard case saying that what was done with the Rosetta stone was incorrect. (5 votes) Elita Moon 7 years agoPosted 7 years ago. Direct link to Elita Moon's post “In the fifth paragraph, I...” In the fifth paragraph, I would like to know how they discovered Carbon dating. • (3 votes) Joe 7 years agoPosted 7 years ago. Direct link to Joe's post “Hi Elita, wikipedia has y...” Hi Elita, wikipedia has your answer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiocarbon_dating (6 votes) Xalexgevorgyan 5 years agoPosted 5 years ago. Direct link to Xalexgevorgyan's post “So, I have a question. Ca...” So, I have a question. Can a prehistory for one culture be different from another culture? For example, can the prehistory of Egypt be different from the prehistory the Inca? • (4 votes) Jaskeerat 4 years agoPosted 4 years ago. Direct link to Jaskeerat's post “Most likely, yes. Prehist...” Most likely, yes. Prehistory for each area is going to be different because different gorups had different environments, so they also adapted differently. (3 votes)Want to join the conversation?
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