University thesis:
Dissertation, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, 2024
Footnote:
Description:
This comparative study is aiming at exploring the nature, origins, circumstances, and factors affecting the origin, of early writing systems in China and Mesoamerica. It focuses on the following aspects relating to the origins of writing: What is writing? When and where did writing first appear? Why did writing appear? Was writing evolved or invented? The dissertation contains five chapters: The first chapter is introduction. It introduces early Chinese and Mesoamerican graphic recording systems, and the question of how to define writing. The nature of the oracle-bone charge and controversi...