# Why did most pre-colonial nations of sub-Saharan Africa have no written language? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 3, 2004, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-most-pre-colonial-nations-of-sub-saharan-africa-have-no-written-language/253407 "2004-07-03T20:54:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![tisiphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tisiphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tisiphone)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2004, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-most-pre-colonial-nations-of-sub-saharan-africa-have-no-written-language/253407/41 "2004-07-05T18:48:46Z")
On current speculation about the nature of [khipu](http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/300/5626/1650). Just as an FYI. Theoretically, this system seems to be easily complex enough to encode anything we’d like…decoding seems to have been beastly difficult even under the best circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-most-pre-colonial-nations-of-sub-saharan-africa-have-no-written-language/253407/42 "2004-07-06T05:48:46Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > But your remarks have little to do with Occam’s razor. > > Baked clay tablets are permanent records. > > _But nobody will even **think** of permanent records until temporary ones are invented first._ > > You have to possess a written language **before** you develop archival techniques, which is what baked clay tablets **are**. Chinese was scratched on bones and tortoise shell before the invention of paper, brush, and ink. Did sub-saharan cultures use knotting as a “written” language? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-most-pre-colonial-nations-of-sub-saharan-africa-have-no-written-language/253407/43 "2004-07-06T12:00:14Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > Chinese was scratched on bones and tortoise shell before the invention of paper, brush, and ink. I had alway been told that this was part of scalpomancy–fortunetelling by use of bones & shells. The “symbols” were not used in messages or records, & varied between one magician & another, & even between one reading & another. Is this correct? ---
**Author:** ![reddy78945](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bbce88/32.png) [@reddy78945](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reddy78945)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-most-pre-colonial-nations-of-sub-saharan-africa-have-no-written-language/253407/44 "2016-05-20T08:34:43Z")
A script is a relatively modern technology for communication [2], it is a visible mark on a flat surface which carries information. But not all scripts are equal at representing full speech (syntax, lexicon, etc). Despite the modern diversity of scripts there are only 4 progenitors (independent development) for every script written today: Egypt (3500 B.C.E.), Ancient Iraq/Iran (3500 B.C.E.), China, and Mesoamerica. Every other script is a blueprint of these 4 scripts, or indirectly inspired by them (diffusion) (e.g. Cherokee). A minority debate if Egypt and China created there own script or adopted it from ancient Sumer [3] But most writing systems today come from Mdw Netr (hieroglyphics) [4] It was once thought that the origin of Egyptian Hieroglyphs were religious and historical, but recent developments could point to an economical impetus for this script as well as push back the time depth of this writing system. Europe has never produced any native script, every script is derivatives—even Ancient Greek. The history of the alphabet started in ancient Egypt. By the 27th century BC Egyptian writing had a set of some 24 hieroglyphs which are called uniliterals. The numerology (0,1,2,3,4,5) of modern Western scripts all comes from Arabic numerals. We often believe much of civilization was a European creation, but Europe, like most of the world, borrowed from the rare genius of four script inventors, just like it borrowed domestication, and religion. ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-most-pre-colonial-nations-of-sub-saharan-africa-have-no-written-language/253407/45 "2016-05-20T11:11:13Z")
> [@reddy78945](#): > > Europe has never produced any native script, every script is derivatives—even Ancient Greek. Is this conclusively proven for [Cretan hieroglyphs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretan_hieroglyphs) and [Linear A](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_A)/[Linear B](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_B)? And there may have been even earlier forms of writing: [Tărtăria tablets - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C4%83rt%C4%83ria_tablets). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-most-pre-colonial-nations-of-sub-saharan-africa-have-no-written-language/253407/46 "2016-05-20T11:22:57Z")
The post is a copypaste from an africanist webpage. Note those reference marks without the accompanying quote. And apparently neither the original author nor whomever pasted it here (whether they happen to be the same person or not) is familiar with some of the words they use, such as “blueprint” (or perhaps, “is”). ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-most-pre-colonial-nations-of-sub-saharan-africa-have-no-written-language/253407/47 "2016-05-20T11:27:12Z")
Yeah, zombie-killer mode engaged. I’m not saying there might not be a good discussion of the topic. Just not this thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-most-pre-colonial-nations-of-sub-saharan-africa-have-no-written-language/253407.md?page=2)