The Age of Letters or Pictographs
Besides the metals, letters also, or at least pictorial writings such as the old rock carvings of Upper Egypt, were introduced in the Prehistoric Age, which comprises that transitional period dim memories of which lingered on far into historic times. It was an age of popular myths, folklore, demi-gods, heroes, traditions of real events, and even philosophic theories on man and his surroundings, which supplied ready to hand the copious materials afterwards worked up by the early poets, founders of new religions, and later lawgivers.
So also in China the early historians still remembered the still earlier “Age of the Three Rulers,” when people lived in caves, ate wild fruits and uncooked food, drank the blood of animals, and wore the skins of wild beasts (our Old Stone Age). Later they became less rude, learned to obtain fire by friction, and built themselves habitations of wood and foliage (our New Stone Age).
Of strictly historic times the most characteristic feature is the general use of letters, most fruitful of human inventions, since by its means everything worth preserving was perpetuated, and all useful knowledge thus tended to become accumulative. Writing systems, as we understand them, were not suddenly introduced, but gradually evolved from pictures representing things and ideas to conventional signs or symbols which first represent words, as in the Chinese script and our ciphers, and then articulate sounds, as in our alphabet. Between the two extremes—the pictograph and the letter—there are various intermediate forms, such as the rebus and the full syllable, and these transitional forms are largely preserved both in the Egyptian and Babylonian systems, which thus help to show how the pure phonetic symbols were finally reached. That was probably six thousand years ago, since we find various ancient scripts widely diffused over the Greek Archipelago (Crete, Cyprus, Asia Minor) in very early times. The hieroglyphic and cuneiform systems whence they originated were very much older, since the rock inscriptions of Upper Egypt are prior to all historic records, while the Mesopotamian city of Nippur already possessed half-pictorial, half-phonetic documents some six thousand years before the New Era.
This is an inscription in hieroglyphic writing found at Meidum, Egypt. It records the life events of King Rahotep and his Queen Nefert.
Here is an Egyptian pictograph representing the Nubians bearing gifts to the King of Egypt.
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DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUMAN RACE THROUGH THE AGES
This chart falls within the Cenozoic (sē´no-zō´ik), or “Recent life,” Period of the Earth and should be compared with it. Estimated Age of the Cenozoic Period, 3,000,000 years.
| Geological Epochs of the Earth | Successive Upward Stages in the Development of Civilized Man | Estimated Time and Duration of Periods | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quaternary (Kwä-ter´na-rĭ) or “Fourth” Sedimentary System of the Earth. Age of Man. | Recent or Alluvial Epoch; called by Geologists Holocene (ho´lo-sen) | Historic Period.—Rise of Civilization through the gradual organization of mankind into social groups and nations, for the protection of life, liberty and property and the advancement of the arts, sciences and religion. | Age of Letters or Pictorial Writing This period offers an unbroken record of events from the first dated monuments and documents down to the present day. With the discoveries of archæologists in Babylonia, Egypt, Southern Arabia, and the Ægean lands, the beginnings of historic times are constantly receding farther into the background, and to the Mesopotamian city of Nippur is already ascribed an antiquity of about eight thousand years. | 800 B.C. to Present Time. |
| Late Iron Age In this age man begins to bestir himself towards discovery and invention. He organizes into tribes, makes laws, records observations—in fact, develops into nations such as manifest themselves on the earliest monuments of Egypt and Babylonia. In Europe it is characterized by forms of implements, weapons, personal ornaments, and pottery, and also by systems of decorative design, which are altogether different from those of the Bronze Age. | In Europe, 500 B.C. to Roman times. | |||
| Early Iron Age, or Hallstatt Period The earliest evidence of this age was found near Hallstatt, in Upper Austria, in a famous Celtic burial-ground. The excavations here yielded swords, daggers, javelins, spears, helmets, axes, shields, and various forms of jewelry, also amber and glass beads; silver was apparently not known. Most of the weapons were of iron, only a few being of bronze. | In Europe, 1000 to 500 B.C. In Orient 1800 to 1000 B.C. | |||
| Bronze Age Here flint is cast aside, and gold as an ornament begins to attract him. This was the stage reached by the Aztecs and the aborigines of Peru when discovered by Europeans in the early sixteenth century. The implements and weapons include knives, saws, sickles, awls, gouges, hammers, anvils, axes, swords, daggers, spears, arrows, shields. The forms of each class differ in different areas, and vary with advancing time. The workmanship is always of a very high order, the shapes graceful, and the finish fine. | In Europe, 2000 to 1000 B.C. In Orient 4000 to 1800 B.C. | |||
| Pleistocene (plis´to-sēn) or Glacial Epoch | New Stone Age or Neolithic (Gr., neos, new; lithos, stone) The Neolithic implements occur in river-terraces, alluvial deposits, lake dwellings and caves. The weapons and tools were made of highly polished stone. With the relics of Neolithic man are found remains of the Irish elk, the reindeer, beaver, brown bear, etc. Besides these were the remains of domesticated forms such as the cat, horse, sheep, dog, and goat. The tribes were acquainted with agriculture, and were advanced in the arts of weaving and pottery-making. | In Europe, about 12,000 to 3000 B.C. Cro-Magnon, and Grimaldi Races (about 10,000 B.C.) | ||
| Pre-historic Period.—Dawn of mind, industry and art. This period merged imperceptibly into the more strictly historic period when letters were introduced. | Old Stone Age or Paleolithic (Gr., palaios, ancient; lithos, stone) The men of this age were hunters, and the remains of successive hunting races have been found in the deposits of caves, river gravels, and other sediments. They used rude hatchets and other implements of rough, unpolished stone which occur in association with relics of northern (mammoth, reindeer, cave-bear) and southern mammalia (lion, leopard, hippopotamus). The walls of their caves are covered with rough sketches of animals belonging to that period. The men who inhabited the caves of Europe in Paleolithic time were very similar to the modern Eskimo. | In Europe, about 125,000 to 12,000 B.C. Neanderthal Man (about 25,000 B.C.) Piltdown Man (about 110,000 B.C.) | ||
| Dawn Stone Age, or Eolithic Primitive man existed even earlier than paleolithic man. It is certain that, in order that man possess the necessary skill exhibited in the flint implements, he must have passed through a previous and necessarily less skillful stage. Evidences of this period have been claimed to exist in the Plateau-gravels of Kent, Belgium and Egypt. | About 525,000 to 125,000 B.C. Heidelberg Man (about 250,000 B.C.) Pithecanthropus (about 475,000 B.C.) | |||
| Tertiary (ter-shi-a-ri), or “third.” Age of mammals. | Pliocene (plī´ō-sēn), or “more recent.” | Period of the probable appearance of the Human Races. | ... | |
| Miocene (mī´ō-sēn), or “less recent.” | Gradual formation of man-like types. | ... | ||
| Geological Epochs of the Earth | Successive Upward Stages in the Development of Civilized Man | Estimated Time and Duration of Periods | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quaternary (Kwä-ter´na-rĭ) or “Fourth” Sedimentary System of the Earth. Age of Man. | Recent or Alluvial Epoch; called by Geologists Holocene (ho´lo-sen) | Historic Period.—Rise of Civilization through the gradual organization of mankind into social groups and nations, for the protection of life, liberty and property and the advancement of the arts, sciences and religion. | Age of Letters or Pictorial Writing This period offers an unbroken record of events from the first dated monuments and documents down to the present day. With the discoveries of archæologists in Babylonia, Egypt, Southern Arabia, and the Ægean lands, the beginnings of historic times are constantly receding farther into the background, and to the Mesopotamian city of Nippur is already ascribed an antiquity of about eight thousand years. | 800 B.C. to Present Time. |
| Late Iron Age In this age man begins to bestir himself towards discovery and invention. He organizes into tribes, makes laws, records observations—in fact, develops into nations such as manifest themselves on the earliest monuments of Egypt and Babylonia. In Europe it is characterized by forms of implements, weapons, personal ornaments, and pottery, and also by systems of decorative design, which are altogether different from those of the Bronze Age. | In Europe, 500 B.C. to Roman times. | |||
| Early Iron Age, or Hallstatt Period The earliest evidence of this age was found near Hallstatt, in Upper Austria, in a famous Celtic burial-ground. The excavations here yielded swords, daggers, javelins, spears, helmets, axes, shields, and various forms of jewelry, also amber and glass beads; silver was apparently not known. Most of the weapons were of iron, only a few being of bronze. | In Europe, 1000 to 500 B.C. In Orient 1800 to 1000 B.C. | |||
| Bronze Age Here flint is cast aside, and gold as an ornament begins to attract him. This was the stage reached by the Aztecs and the aborigines of Peru when discovered by Europeans in the early sixteenth century. The implements and weapons include knives, saws, sickles, awls, gouges, hammers, anvils, axes, swords, daggers, spears, arrows, shields. The forms of each class differ in different areas, and vary with advancing time. The workmanship is always of a very high order, the shapes graceful, and the finish fine. | In Europe, 2000 to 1000 B.C. In Orient 4000 to 1800 B.C. | |||
| Pleistocene (plis´to-sēn) or Glacial Epoch | New Stone Age or Neolithic (Gr., neos, new; lithos, stone) The Neolithic implements occur in river-terraces, alluvial deposits, lake dwellings and caves. The weapons and tools were made of highly polished stone. With the relics of Neolithic man are found remains of the Irish elk, the reindeer, beaver, brown bear, etc. Besides these were the remains of domesticated forms such as the cat, horse, sheep, dog, and goat. The tribes were acquainted with agriculture, and were advanced in the arts of weaving and pottery-making. | In Europe, about 12,000 to 3000 B.C. Cro-Magnon, and Grimaldi Races (about 10,000 B.C.) | ||
| Pre-historic Period.—Dawn of mind, industry and art. This period merged imperceptibly into the more strictly historic period when letters were introduced. | Old Stone Age or Paleolithic (Gr., palaios, ancient; lithos, stone) The men of this age were hunters, and the remains of successive hunting races have been found in the deposits of caves, river gravels, and other sediments. They used rude hatchets and other implements of rough, unpolished stone which occur in association with relics of northern (mammoth, reindeer, cave-bear) and southern mammalia (lion, leopard, hippopotamus). The walls of their caves are covered with rough sketches of animals belonging to that period. The men who inhabited the caves of Europe in Paleolithic time were very similar to the modern Eskimo. | In Europe, about 125,000 to 12,000 B.C. Neanderthal Man (about 25,000 B.C.) Piltdown Man (about 110,000 B.C.) | ||
| Dawn Stone Age, or Eolithic Primitive man existed even earlier than paleolithic man. It is certain that, in order that man possess the necessary skill exhibited in the flint implements, he must have passed through a previous and necessarily less skillful stage. Evidences of this period have been claimed to exist in the Plateau-gravels of Kent, Belgium and Egypt. | About 525,000 to 125,000 B.C. Heidelberg Man (about 250,000 B.C.) Pithecanthropus (about 475,000 B.C.) | |||
| Tertiary (ter-shi-a-ri), or “third.” Age of mammals. | Pliocene (plī´ō-sēn), or “more recent.” | Period of the probable appearance of the Human Races. | ... | |
| Miocene (mī´ō-sēn), or “less recent.” | Gradual formation of man-like types. | ... | ||
From the pictorial and plastic remains recovered from these two earliest seats of the higher cultures it is now placed beyond doubt that all the great divisions of the human family had at that time already been fully developed. Even in the New Stone Age, the present European type had been thoroughly established, as shown by the remains of the “Cro-Magnon Race,” so called from the cave of that name in Perigord, France, where the first specimens were discovered. In Egypt, where a well-developed social and political organization may be traced back to the seventh century B. C., Professor Petrie discovered in 1897 the portrait statue of a prince of the fifth dynasty (3700 B. C.) showing regular Caucasic features. Still older is the portrait of the Babylonian King Sargon (3800 B. C.), also with handsome features which might be either Semitic or even Aryan. Thus the Caucasic, that is, the highest human type, had already been not only evolved but spread over a wide area (Europe, Egypt, Mesopotamia) some thousands of years before the New Era. The other chief types (Mongol, Negro, and even Negrito) are also clearly portrayed on early Egyptian monuments, so that all the primary groups had already reached maturity probably before the close of the Old Stone Age.
Early picture writing of the Chippewa (Ojibwa) Indians.
But these primary groups did not remain stationary in their several original homes; on the contrary they have been subject to great and continual fluctuations throughout historic times. Armed with a general knowledge of letters and other cultural appliances, the higher races soon took a foremost place in the general progress of mankind, and gradually acquired a marked ascendency, not only over the less cultured peoples, but to a great extent over the forces of nature herself. With the development of navigation, and improved methods of locomotion, inland seas, barren wastes, and mountain ranges ceased to present insurmountable obstacles to their movements, which have never been completely arrested, and are still going on.