The Origin of Writing

by John Barclay-Morton

“Writing:
A system of human communication by the means of arbitrary visual signs."

Denise Schmandt-Besserat
"The Evolution of Writing."

This Links Page is
Under Construction
(more coming soon!)

At the United Nations

Meeting Grand Chief Edward John at the United Nations, International Day of the Wold's Indigenous Peoples, 2014.

Frequently Asked Questions

“These examples of image writing just look like rocks to me. How do you know that you are not just imagining things, and thinking that you see things which are not actually there?”

First of all, yes of course, these are rocks; but, they are rocks on which the natural grain patterns of the stone were modified to show images of things commonly seen long before our present day.

Natural patterns only show variations in degree: larger or smaller grains, lighter or darker stone, marks that are closer together or farther apart — differences in degrees of variance that can be measured on a simple scale, using some common metric principle (feet and inches, meters and centimeters, and so on).

When we look at the images on these stones, we see different kinds of things depicted. Difference-in-kind can only be determined within time: we can only know that one kind of animal is different from another because, each acts differently than the other. But because such differences can only become apparent over time, it is only through memory that different kinds of things can each be known as different from each other.

These images can’t simply be natural patterns of rock grain: if they were, they would only show difference-in-degree. Yes, these images must have started out as natural patterns in stone; but then they MUST have been modified, long ago, by people who had a living memory of such kinds of things as we no longer find around us in our present-day. We do not find images of cell phones, and cars, and books, and scissors, or of anything else from our present day in this form of image writing — so we can say it isn't simply something we are imagining to be there now. It is something that was imaged by people long ago, that has lasted to this day.

“If this is a form of writing, then how can you translate it without speaking the same language as those who wrote this way?”

Most forms of writing use symbols for sounds, and so write the way people speak. This is called phonetic writing; wherein, letters that correspond to sounds are grouped together to spell words otherwise spoken. But, whenever such a form of writing falls out of use — so that the correspondences, between individual symbols and the sounds they represent, are forgotten — the meanings held within that specific type of writing can be lost forever.

Some forms of writing use more complicated glyphic symbols, with each individually acting as if a spoken word. Again, for each link between symbol and word that is forgotten, a little bit more of the writing is lost. For instance: modern Chinese symbols are well known but, the farther one goes back in Chinese history, the more often one encounters symbols for which the corresponding words are no longer known. Even when a modern language is widely used, that is no guarantee we can still understand ancient ways in which it was written — if that ancient writing was one of phonetic correspondence between symbols and the sounds of words as spoken.

Anametric image writing does not work through phonetic correspondence. Instead of having letters that represent sounds, which are grouped into words as spoken, this form of writing groups image elements into composite structures we can identify as being concepts. To read this writing, we do not need to know which symbols represent what sounds: we only need to be able to tell what kinds of things we are seeing when we look at these images.

“This is a non-phonetic form of writing? So, are you saying that such systems of image writing were used without spoken languages?”

No; that idea makes no sense to me, at all. The First Nations’ Elders I have spoken with about this image writing all say it was used for storytelling; and, the importance of oral histories in First Nations’ culture is well known. I would say that such image writing was always used alongside spoken languages. I would also say that, although this form of writing does not (as far as I know) present symbols for the sounds of speech, it does nonetheless maintained a very close conceptual linkage with the spoken languages of the First Nations.

We know the image elements found in this form of writing show different kinds of things in the world, instead of different sounds found in speech. We know that differences-in-kind are temporal in nature; and we also know that the spoken languages of the First Nations are very heavily nuanced by temporal distinctions — far beyond the simple division into past/ present/ future found (for instance) in European languages. We know that the image elements formed within this writing are grouped together to create concepts, rather than being used to show how spoken words sound.

What we are seeing here is an image writing system that composites temporal distinctions, in order to make concepts visible. This form of anametric Image writing is what we call an “Event Language.”

Personal Links

Buy Some Stuff!

You can check out the designs I have for sale here, on REDBUBBLE. You won't find me selling any First Nations designs there (unless someone from a First Nation would like to put some of their own creations up on my website!) — because I am not a member of a First Nation — just my own photography. If you are looking for First Nations artwork, then you should purchase that from First Nations artists.

Hire Me!

My wife, Julia, and I have a small boutique design and editorial company: Barclay-Morton Editorial+Design. Have a look at the services we offer — we cover a full range of editorial and design services at very reasonable rates.

...Or, Just Check Out My Portfolio.

Although I don't update this as often as I really should, I do have a sampling of my photographs available for viewing on my personal portfolio page, located HERE. Perhaps I will keep that more up-to-date now that I have my Origin Of Writing site updated...

You Can Also Take A Look At Another Project:

Not long after arriving in New York, I was put in charge of a Commercial District Needs Assessment for East Harlem, as undertaken by the New Harlem East Merchants Association (under the auspices of New York City's Department of Small Business Services). You can have a look at the final version of my report HERE. This, the first of two reports I did, covers the East 125th Street commercial corridor (the second one I completed covered a section of Third Avenue in East Harlem).

You can email me at:
John(at)OriginOfWriting(dot)com

Some First Nations Sites

The Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs maintains an excellent site with many useful links. You can visit the UBCIC site, Here.

Visit the Indian Country Media Network site, home of Indian Country Today.

Outstanding journalist and more from the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network: APTN.

Check out Bruce McIvor's Aboriginal Law Report, at First Peoples Law.

Celebrate the Rich, Diverse Cultures of The Americas' First Peoples at the Native Village site.

Become involved in an issue that affects us all — Global Climate Change! Visit the Indigenous Climate Action site, an Indigenous-led climate change initiative.

Recommended Sites

If you are interested in phonetic forms of writing, pay a visit to Sumner Stone's website for insights into the history of typography in Europe.

If you are interested in the work of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, be sure to visit Charles J. Stivale's website for a great selection of translated works.

Some of Charles Stivale's translations of lectures given by Gilles Deleuze were made from tape recordings by Richard Pinhas. You can visit Richard's site here; and also check out his excellent music at Cuneiform Records.

If you are wondering what's been happening in post-structural philosophy lately, find out with Semiotext[e]!

You can also check out Rhizomes for the latest of cultural studies in emerging knowledge.

External Site Links

The Final Report of The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

How Linguists Are Pulling Apart the Bering Strait Theory, by Alex Ewen.

A Plan to Defend against the War on Science, at Scientific American, by Shawn Otto.

"Was Einstein Wrong?" by Adam Frank.

Beringian Standstill and Spread of Native American Founders, at Plos One.

An unusual stone circle, Chilcotin Range, British Columbia, Canada; at: The National Research Council of Canada Press

View surrounding elevations for any location at Peak Finder.

The Significance of the Tsilhqot'in Decision, by Bruce McIvor.

...and some of the response to this decision: "Chilko Lake tourism operators appeal for help against 'nightmare’," by Larry Pynn.

The Photographer's Ephemeris: TPE.

Translations of Gilles Deleuze's and Félix Guattari's texts — and more — available through Prof. Charles Stivale's website!

"Strange Numbers Found in Particle Collisions" by Kevin Hartnett, at Quanta Magazine.

The Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs' Historical Timeline.

The Smithsonian's online Winter Count exhibition.

"What Whorf Really Said" by Nick Yee.

Dan Moonhawk Alford's thoughts on Benjamin Lee Whorf and Indigenous Science.

"Uses and abuses of fractal methodology in ecology"; in Ecology Letters (2004).

Factors Governing the Use of Stone Projectile Tips: An Ethnographic Perspective, by Christopher J. Ellis.

Rethinking the origin of microblade technology: A chronological and ecological perspective; in Quaternary International 400 · July 2015.

All non-Africans alive today likely descend from people within a single migration out of Africa, from the Harvard Medical School; and "The most detailed look yet at how early humans left Africa" by Emily Benson in New Scientist.

THE OLFACTORY LIMBIC SYSTEM: Sex, Emotion, Pheromones, Learning, Memory; by R. Gabriel Joseph, Ph.D.

Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape People's Tribal History.

“Writing: A system of human communication by the means of arbitrary visual signs."

Denise Schmandt-Besserat "The Evolution of Writing."

This Links Page is Under Construction (more coming soon!)