Writing in Egypt in its Literary Context

The evolution of Egyptian writing (hieroglyphs) is traditionally dated to Dynasty 1 of ancient Egypt's Proto‐Dynastic Period ca. 3100-3000 BCE. Until recently, priority of first place in the history of writing seemed to belong to the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia (now southern Iraq). However, the recent discovery of labels in tomb U‐j at Abydos, Egypt, tomb of the Scorpion King, have provided evidence of writing in Egypt as early as 3250-3200 BCE. The earliest Egyptian attempts at writing consisted of potmarks, designs painted on jars, and of motifs carved on the surfaces of cosmetic slate palettes and other artifacts found in the graves of Predynastic Egyptians at a number of sites (ca. 4500-3000 BCE) and in temple deposits at Hierakonpolis. These examples were clearly precursors to the classical Egyptian hieroglyphs (Arnett 1982; Elkins 1999; Casson 1965: 141-148; Gardiner 1978).