CAS AR 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Epigraphy, Llama, Mnemonic
10 Sep 2017
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Writing = symbolic, physical speech* for recording transactions, knowledge (i. e. how to make tools, where are the good resources), history, laws, family lineage, and for communicating. Clay seals for stamping, economic administration (making name of maker, storage house doors) Found some symbols in neolithic period, but not sure if writing. Shang dynasty (~ 1766 -1122 bce: oracle bones. Origins of writing in a ritual context. Book of the dead writing for religion. Rosetta stone allowed historians to decipher hieroglyphs. Emblem glyphs told life events of rulers seen on stelae and set of stairs in copan, Honduras, which is the longest text in ancient americas* and recorded dynastic history about kings and royal families. But a missionary, landa, burnt most of mayan literature: wrote landa"s alphabet that contained phonetic elements in maya writing. Different colored strings and types of knots can record numbers and mnemonic devices for storage administration, calendar, stories, and more, perhaps.
