History
How old is writing?
~5,200 years old
How old is writing?
The oldest known writing systems date to around 3200–3400 BC in Mesopotamia (Sumerian cuneiform) and Egypt. Writing was independently invented at least four times in human history — in Mesopotamia, Egypt, China (~1200 BC), and Mesoamerica (~900 BC). This means all of recorded history represents less than 5% of the time Homo sapiens has existed.