Proto-writing
Proto-writing consists of visible marks communicating limited information. Such systems emerged from earlier traditions of symbol systems in the early Neolithic, as early as the 7th millennium BC in China and southeastern Europe. They used ideographic or early mnemonic symbols or both to represent a limited number of concepts, in contrast to true writing systems, which record the language of the writer.
Paleolithic
In 2022, a team led by amateur archaeologist Bennett Bacon presented an analysis of lines, dots and "Y"-like symbols on Upper Palaeolithic cave paintings as indicating the mating cycle of animals in a lunar calendar. The markings found in over 400 caves across Europe were compared to the mating cycles of the animals with which they were associated, showing a correlation with the month of the year in which the animals depicted in the cave paintings would typically give birth. The markings were 20,000 years old, predating attested proto-writing systems by 10,000 years.Neolithic
Neolithic China
In 2003, turtle shells with carved inscriptions featuring a library of symbols were found in 24 Neolithic graves excavated at Jiahu in the northern Chinese province of Henan. Using radiocarbon dating, the inscriptions have been dated to the 7th millennium BC. According to some archaeologists, the symbols bear a resemblance to the first attested oracle bone inscriptions dating to. Others have dismissed this claim as insufficiently substantiated, claiming that simple geometric designs such as those found on the Jiahu shells cannot be linked to early writing.Neolithic Southeastern Europe
The Vinča symbols are an evolution of simple undeciphered symbols first attested during the 7th millennium BC from Vinča culture. Over time, the symbols gradually became more complex, ultimately culminating in the Tărtăria tablets. The symbols went out of use around 3500 BC.They have sometimes been described as an example of proto-writing, with most scholars agreeing that the symbols indicate ownership or other information, but do not record any language.
Another example of proto-writing might be recorded on the Dispilio Tablet in Greece, however, as of 2025, there has not been a proper academic publication on that artifact yet.
Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age
During, proto-writing in the Fertile Crescent was gradually evolving into cuneiform, the earliest mature writing system.Mesopotamia
According to some scholars, the proto-cuneiform tablets reflects the stage of writing, when what would become the cuneiform script of Sumer was still in the proto-writing stage, because it was a system based on numerical and logographic signs, lacking phonetic signs. This system was not intended to record a language. The transitional stage to a proper writing system takes place during the first centuries of the Early Dynastic Period.Egypt
A similar development took place in the genesis of the Egyptian hieroglyphs. Various scholars believe that Egyptian hieroglyphs "came into existence a little after Sumerian script, and ... probably ... invented under the influence of the latter ...", although it is pointed out and held that "the evidence for such direct influence remains flimsy" and that "a very credible argument can also be made for the independent development of writing in Egypt ..."Bronze Age
During the Bronze Age, the cultures of the Ancient Near East are known to have had fully developed writing systems, while the marginal territories affected by the Bronze Age, such as Europe, India and China, remained in the stage of proto-writing.The Chinese script emerged from proto-writing in the Chinese Bronze Age, during about the 14th to 11th centuries BC, while symbol systems native to Europe and India are extinct and were replaced by descendants of the Semitic abjad during the Iron Age.
Indian Bronze Age
The Indus script is a symbol system that emerged during the end of the 4th millennium BC in the Indus Valley Civilisation.European Bronze Age
With the exception of the Aegean and mainland Greece, the early writing systems of the Near East did not reach Bronze Age Europe. The earliest writing systems of Europe arise in the Iron Age, derived from the Phoenician alphabet.However, there are number of interpretations regarding symbols found on artefacts of the European Bronze Age which amount to interpreting them as an indigenous tradition of proto-writing. Of special interest in this context are the Central European Bronze Age cultures derived from the Beaker culture in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. Interpretations of the markings of the bronze sickles associated with the Urnfield culture, especially the large number of so-called "knob-sickles" discovered in the Frankleben hoard, are discussed by Sommerfeld. Sommerfeld favours an interpretation of these symbols as numerals associated with a lunar calendar.