Do any of you know what the oldest written language, or just oldest language known to have been used, is?
And do you know how the letters were used to form sentences, or have any good books or websites you could recommend?
>>1237517
That is Babylonian cuneiform, and it's not the oldest written script. Of physical examples we have, it's hotly debated if Sumerian cuneiform is oldest or Egyptian hieroglyphs. The debate is two-fold, the actual age of the strata in which they're found and the "long or short" reckoning to the events which they portray.
>>1237517
Earliest written communication was not phonetic or even syllabic. It was more like ideas and subsequent modifiers. You could say "man", then, "I mean this man who was a son", then you say "specifically related to this king", then "arose" (or became king, or deified), then "when this event happened" (which might be a conflict, or an astronomical sign, or foundation of a city) , and on and on.
I don't think theres a clear agreement on this, the first Sumerian cuneiform and Egyptian hierogliphic finds are from roughly the same era, plus there are several finds of protowriting even much older from all over the world.
The definition of writing is less clear than you'd think.
Both the Egyptians and Mesopotamians go from symbolic runes, to simple numerical systems intended to record the amount of a good, to real writing.
>>1238138
>Writing in caves
No such thing. It only picture in cave.