Proto-writing

1

Art of a painted animal at Lascaux^[1]

1	Four dots, a possible notation for the lunar months

Proto-writing consists of visible marks communicating limited information.^[2] Such systems emerged from earlier traditions of symbol systems in the early Neolithic, as early as the 7th millennium BC in China and southeastern Europe. They used ideographic or early mnemonic symbols or both to represent a limited number of concepts, in contrast to true writing systems, which record the language of the writer.^[3]

^ Bacon, Bennett; Khatiri, Azadeh; Palmer, James; Freeth, Tony; Pettitt, Paul; Kentridge, Robert (5 January 2023). "An Upper Palaeolithic Proto-writing System and Phenological Calendar". Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 33 (3): 1–19. doi:10.1017/S0959774322000415. S2CID 255723053.
^ Robinson, Andrew (2009). Writing and Script: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-19-956778-2.
^ Gross, Michael (4 December 2012). "The evolution of writing". Current Biology. 22 (23): R981–R984. Bibcode:2012CBio...22.R981G. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.11.032. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 23346575.

[CAJ-1] Bacon, Bennett; Khatiri, Azadeh; Palmer, James; Freeth, Tony; Pettitt, Paul; Kentridge, Robert (5 January 2023). "An Upper Palaeolithic Proto-writing System and Phenological Calendar". Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 33 (3): 1–19. doi:10.1017/S0959774322000415. S2CID 255723053.

[2] Robinson, Andrew (2009). Writing and Script: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-19-956778-2.

[Gross-3] Gross, Michael (4 December 2012). "The evolution of writing". Current Biology. 22 (23): R981–R984. Bibcode:2012CBio...22.R981G. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.11.032. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 23346575.

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