ANT201H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Michael Ventris, Mojarra, Teotihuacan
Document Summary
Proto-cuneiform numeric and ideographic (ideas: not public or religious, depicts quantity, separated into column to group and associate. More centralized bureaucracy to manage and build structure. Writing used as administration standardized and controlled by the government. Developed during and out of uruk lived in year-round permanent settlement largest settlements developed into city states. Priestly governors-controlled trade etc. true cuneiform evidence of grammar and syntax: used more abstract concepts and efficient altered pictographs (using reed stylus) to make wedge print for faster writing, found poetry. By 2700 bce used for royal inscriptions. Nile valley symbol can represent sound or concept came after cuneiform not 100% sure if derived or separate but seems more separate. Hieroglyphics more than 2000 characters, formal writing system for sacred/royal texts. Hieratic simplified, cursive used by priests and rulers alongside hieroglyphs, written using ink and brush. Demotic popular script derived from hieratic, administrative, legal documents. Rosetta stone stele inscribed with royal decree with hieroglyphics, hieratic, and greek.
