Is this the oldest evidence of written language?

[Sally]

Unless something is found that is even older, this might be the oldest example of written language.


Is this the oldest evidence of written language? Pictograms found in ancient Turkish city could be 12,000-years-old

• Archaeologists unearthed a carving in ancient Turkish city of Göbekli Tepe
• They say pictograph may be depicting the practice of Neolithic sky burials
• It shows a human head on the wing of a vulture and a body beneath it
• They are thousands of years older than other forms of written language

By RICHARD GRAY FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 09:54 EST, 21 July 2015 | UPDATED: 12:13 EST, 21 July 2015

A series of carvings found on a pillar of limestone in the mountains of southern Turkey could be the world's oldest written language.

The ancient pictograms, which were found at the ancient city of Göbekli Tepe in southeast Anatolia, Turkey, are thought to be around 12,000 years old.

The scene shows a human head on the wing of a vulture and a headless human body below.

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These pictograms found on a pillar of rock at the ancient city of Göbekli Tepe are thought to be the oldest written language yet discovered. Thought to be 12,000 years old, they show a vulture on the left with a human head, which is thought to depict the practice of sky burials used during the Neolithic period

Experts believe this could be representing a sky burial – a ritual where bodies are left out on the mountainside for scavengers to pick the bones clean. The practice still takes place in parts of Tibet.


The obelisk also has images carved into the rock of the figures of cranes and scorpions.

Speaking to Hurriyet Daily, Dr Müslüm Ercan, director of the Şanlıurfa Museum and head of the excavation at Göbekli Tepe, said: 'The scene on the obelisk unearthed in Göbekli Tepe could be construed as the first pictograph because it depicts an event thematically.

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Known as the Vulture Stone, the limestone pillar also had images of cranes, scorpions and a headless human form carved into it (shown above)

Continue reading at:

Is this the oldest evidence of written language Pictograms found in ancient Turkish city could be 12 000-years-old Daily Mail Online

 

[Mr. H.]

That is really cool, but I'd imagine folks were drawing in the dirt long before they were chiseling stone.

 

[Mr. H.]

And as we all know, dirt drawings are quite ephemeral.

 

[Mr. H.]

...as are sand castles.

And cheeseburgers. Those have a shelf life of what? Two days?

 

[Pogo]

...as are sand castles.

And cheeseburgers. Those have a shelf life of what? Two days?

"Castles made of sand
fall into the sea
.... eventually."


I dunno, those pictographs look remarkably pristine for being 12,000 years old.

By the way the cave drawings at Lascaux are estimated to be over 17,000 years old.

 

[aris2chat]

Unless something is found that is even older, this might be the oldest example of written language.


Is this the oldest evidence of written language? Pictograms found in ancient Turkish city could be 12,000-years-old

• Archaeologists unearthed a carving in ancient Turkish city of Göbekli Tepe
• They say pictograph may be depicting the practice of Neolithic sky burials
• It shows a human head on the wing of a vulture and a body beneath it
• They are thousands of years older than other forms of written language

By RICHARD GRAY FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 09:54 EST, 21 July 2015 | UPDATED: 12:13 EST, 21 July 2015
A series of carvings found on a pillar of limestone in the mountains of southern Turkey could be the world's oldest written language.

The ancient pictograms, which were found at the ancient city of Göbekli Tepe in southeast Anatolia, Turkey, are thought to be around 12,000 years old.

The scene shows a human head on the wing of a vulture and a headless human body below.

+7
These pictograms found on a pillar of rock at the ancient city of Göbekli Tepe are thought to be the oldest written language yet discovered. Thought to be 12,000 years old, they show a vulture on the left with a human head, which is thought to depict the practice of sky burials used during the Neolithic period

Experts believe this could be representing a sky burial – a ritual where bodies are left out on the mountainside for scavengers to pick the bones clean. The practice still takes place in parts of Tibet.


The obelisk also has images carved into the rock of the figures of cranes and scorpions.

Speaking to Hurriyet Daily, Dr Müslüm Ercan, director of the Şanlıurfa Museum and head of the excavation at Göbekli Tepe, said: 'The scene on the obelisk unearthed in Göbekli Tepe could be construed as the first pictograph because it depicts an event thematically.

+7
Known as the Vulture Stone, the limestone pillar also had images of cranes, scorpions and a headless human form carved into it (shown above)

Continue reading at:

Is this the oldest evidence of written language Pictograms found in ancient Turkish city could be 12 000-years-old Daily Mail Online

Göbekli Tepe seems to have been a temple of some sort and after centuries was carefully buried rather than destroyed or neglected

The symbols have meaning but I'm not sure it would really be classified as a language, not in the way of egyptian style hieroglyphics or cuneiform.

Cave drawing are not a written language but we recognize many of the images and can make educated guesses what they are sharing

 

[waltky]

Different languages, same brain response...

Different languages spark same brain activity: study
Wed, Jan 06, 2016 - TOPIC OF DEBATE: An NTNU psychology professor said the results debunk a myth that Chinese and alphabetic languages are processed by different sides of the brain

Researchers have discovered that speakers of four highly contrasting languages — Spanish, English, Hebrew and Chinese — show very similar patterns of brain activity during reading and speech, which suggests the underlying network for language processing might be more universal than previously understood. At a news conference yesterday, where results of three international and interdisciplinary studies were announced, National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) psychology professor Li Jun-ren said his team tracked and compared reading and speech perception of native speakers of the four languages using functional magnetic resonance imaging and found mostly identical brain activation. “We could not tell what language a participant speaks from their brain scan, because the same brain areas are activated regardless of what language they speak. We showed, for the first time, that there could be an invariant and universal brain network for reading and speech processing regardless of linguistic differences,” Li said.

It has been a topic of debate whether brain systems could be language specific, but the research showed that both the left and right hemispheres of the brain, but particularly the left hemisphere, are activated when speakers of any of the tested languages are performing reading or speech tasks, which suggests that language processing is predominantly operated by the left hemisphere, and that there could be a universal brain system for all languages, he said. The finding debunks a myth that Chinese languages were predominantly processed by the right hemisphere, compared with alphabetic languages processed by the left hemisphere, because Chinese was considered a pictorial language and the right hemisphere has been associated with image processing, he added.

Other studies support Li’s findings: A study conducted by National Yang Ming University neuroscience professor Kuo Wen-jui (郭文瑞) discovered that two particular neural circuits, a shape recognition system and a gesture recognition system, are similarly activated and show identical patterns of activation in Chinese speakers and French speakers.

Meanwhile, similar activation patterns in two regions of the left inferior frontal lobe were found across Chinese and French participants when they are processing complex number words, such as seven-hundred-ninety-four, which suggests these regions serve as the neural bases for forming complex number words in different languages, according to a study by National Central University neuroscience professor Denise Wu. “About 150 years ago, [French physician] Paul Broca proposed that the left hemisphere is responsible for language processing. Today, our team confirmed that reading, writing and arithmetic processing is done by the left hemisphere, which is a universal phenomenon across languages. The team’s findings are to be remembered for a long time,” former minister of education Ovid Tzeng said.

Different languages spark same brain activity: study - Taipei Times