What was prehistoric writing called?

Answer 1

Writing systems were preceded by proto-writing, systems of ideographic and/or early mnemonic symbols. The best known examples are: * Jiahu Script, symbols on tortoise shells in Jiahu, ca. 6600 BC * Vinča script (Tărtăria tablets), ca. 4500 BC * Early Indus script, ca. 3500 BC The invention of the first writing systems is roughly contemporary with the beginning of the Bronze Age in the late Neolithic of the late 4th millennium BC. The Sumerian archaic cuneiform script and the Egyptian hieroglyphs are generally considered the earliest writing systems, both emerging out of their ancestral proto-literate symbol systems from 3400-3200 BC with earliest coherent texts from about 2600 BC. Though the Ge'ez writing system of Ethiopia is considered Semitic it is likely of semi-independent origin, having roots in the Meroitic Sudanese ideogram system.[1] The Chinese script likely developed independently of the Middle Eastern scripts, around 1600 BC. The pre-Columbian Mesoamerican writing systems (including among others Olmec and Maya scripts) are also generally believed to have had independent origins. It is thought that the first true alphabetic writing appeared around 2000 BC, as a representation of language developed for Semitic slaves in Egypt by Egyptians (see History of the alphabet). Most other alphabets in the world today either descended from this one innovation, many via the Phoenician alphabet, or were directly inspired by its design.

Answer 2

It is generally agreed that true writing of language invented independently in at least two places:

• Mesopotamia (specifically, ancient Sumer) around 3200 BCE. We call this writing cuneiform.
  
• Mesoamerica around 600 BCE. Several Mesoamerican scripts are known, the oldest being from the Olmec or Zapotec of Mexico. We call this logographic writing.