EGYPTIAN HEIROGLYPHICS

The History of hieroglyphics in ancient Egypt is believed to date back as far as 3000 B.C. Scholars offer varying opinions regarding the identity of Egyptian hieroglyphics inventors. While not much is known about the inventors and the early history of hieroglyphics, the study of this ancient system of writing remains applicable even in today's modern society.

Throughout the long history of hieroglyphics, this system of writing utilizing ancient Egyptian symbols underwent many changes. There were six primary periods during which this ancient language was used in Egypt. A weakened form of the language is still spoken today; although only in the Coptic Church. It is thought that from the first use of the language until the last known use around 500 A.D., there were thousands of symbols used. While all of these symbols were not primarily used to write in hieroglyphics at the same time, this ancient language still remained extremely difficult to learn. At any given time, there were likely at least 700 or so symbols used and each symbol often had more than one use. One of the most interesting facts about hieroglyphics is that one symbol alone could have up to three meanings and could be either phonetic or simply a representative of the picture it depicted.

OLD STONE AGE ROCK

The oldest known stone have been excavated from several sites at Gona, Ethiopia, on the sediments of the paleo-Awash River, which serve to date them. All the tools come from the Busidama Formation, which lies above a disconformity, or missing layer, which would have been from 2.9-2.7 mya. The oldest sites containing tools are dated to 2.6-2.55 mya.[3] One of the most striking circumstances about these sites is that they are from the Late Pliocene, where previous to their discovery tools were thought to have evolved only in the Pleistocene.

The Stone Age is nearly contemporaneous with the evolution of the genus Homo, the only exception possibly being at the very beginning, when species prior to Homo may have manufactured tools. The cradle of the genus according to the age and location of the current evidence is the East African Rift System, especially toward the north in Ethiopia, where it is bordered by grasslands. The closest relative among the other living Primates, the genus Pan, represents a branch that continued on in the deep forest, where the Primates evolved. The rift served as a conduit for movement into southern Africa and also north down the Nile into North Africa and through the continuation of the rift in the Levant to the vast grasslands of Asia.