The Beginning of History

[David Morris]

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/16/science/social/16SCOR.html

April 16, 2002

Of Early Writing and a King of Legend
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD

Carved in the limestone of a desert cliff in Egypt is a 5,250-year-old 
tableau of a victorious ruler, perhaps the so-called King Scorpion — whose 
exploits, previously the stuff of myth and legend, may have been critical to 
the founding of Egyptian civilization. The archaeologists who discovered the 
tableau seven years ago now say it may be the world's earliest historical 
document.

More than that, they say, the inscribed scenes and symbols bear a strong 
resemblance to later hieroglyphs. This is a significant addition to a 
growing body of evidence that the first true writing originated in Egypt — 
not in ancient Sumer, in what is now Iraq, as scholars of antiquity had 
believed.

While some aspects of the discovery are controversial — particularly the 
suggestion that the ruler depicted is King Scorpion — several archaeologists 
familiar with it agree that this represents an early stage of writing, 
perhaps earlier than Sumerian writing.

And since the invention of writing is regarded as the great divide between 
prehistory and history, the discovery may push back the beginning of 
recorded Egyptian history 100 to 150 years, to about 3250 B.C., well into 
the obscure period before the land's unification under powerful pharaohs. 
Until now, the earliest recognized historical document in Egypt was the 
Narmer Palette, found in the late 19th century in the ruins of ancient 
Hierakonpolis and dated 3100 B.C.




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