World History · Unit 1 · Lesson 3 · 世界歷史單元一第三課

Why Did People Invent Writing?人為什麼發明文字？

Press number signs into a clay tablet in 3D, the way a scribe in ancient Mesopotamia kept accounts. Then find on a map the few places where writing began on its own, and discover the trick that let pictures write down names and speech.
在 3D 泥板上壓出數字記號，像古代美索不達米亞的書吏那樣記帳。再從地圖上找出文字各自開始的幾個地方，並發現讓圖畫能寫下名字和說話的那個訣竅。

Big idea · 一句話看懂

Writing was invented from scratch in only a few places. Its first uses were mostly practical: keeping accounts in Mesopotamia, asking questions of the spirits in China, recording dates in Mesoamerica. Over time, people learned to use signs for sounds, and writing could record anything people said.
文字從無到有被發明出來的地方只有少數幾個。它最早的用途大多很實際：美索不達米亞拿來記帳，中國拿來向神靈提問，中部美洲拿來記日子。後來，人學會用記號代表聲音，文字就能記下人說的任何話。

3D Model · 3D 模型

Keeping Accounts in Clay 在泥板上記帳

A scribe in ancient Mesopotamia needs to record how many sheep came in. Choose a number and press “Write it”: the reed stylus presses one mark at a time into the soft clay. Switch between the older number signs of the first tablets, pressed with a round-ended stylus, and the later Babylonian way, built from just two wedge-shaped signs. In the Babylonian way, try 1 and then 61, and look closely at what changes. The signs are simplified from museum and research descriptions; real tablets vary from scribe to scribe and century to century.
古代美索不達米亞的一位書吏要記下進來了幾隻羊。選一個數字，按「寫上去」：蘆葦筆會一下一下把記號壓進軟軟的泥裡。可以切換兩種數字的寫法：最早的泥板上用圓頭的筆壓出來的數字記號，和後來巴比倫人只用兩種楔形記號組成的寫法。在巴比倫的寫法裡，先試 1，再試 61，仔細看看哪裡不一樣。記號的形狀是依博物館與研究的說明簡化的；真正的泥板，每位書吏、每個世紀都不完全一樣。

Drag to turn · 拖曳轉動　Scroll or pinch to zoom · 滾輪／雙指縮放

This 3D model needs WebGL, which this browser does not support. The number, the sign key, and the reading on the right still work, and so do the map and the games below.
這個瀏覽器不支援 WebGL，無法顯示 3D 模型；右邊的數字、記號說明和讀數照樣能用，下面的地圖和小遊戲也都能用。

Slow motion慢動作

Clay tablet: soft when written, hard once it dries
泥板：寫的時候是軟的，乾了就變硬
Reed stylus: a cut reed pressed into the clay
蘆葦筆：削過的蘆葦，壓進泥裡

This is a teaching sketch. The number signs follow the general pattern described by museums and by the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative, but their exact shapes, sizes, and arrangement changed over three thousand years of use, and one model cannot show them all. Real accounts also named what was counted, with a word sign beside the number; that part is left out here rather than drawn from guesswork. The older signs shown are the ones used for counting things such as sheep and workers; grain and other goods had number systems of their own, and those older signs had no place value.
這是教學用的示意。數字記號依照博物館與「楔形文字數位圖書館計畫」（CDLI）描述的大致規則畫成，但它們確切的形狀、大小和排列方式，在三千年的使用裡一直在變，一個模型沒辦法全部呈現。真正的帳目還會在數字旁邊寫上一個代表「數的是什麼」的字；這一部分這裡省略了，不憑猜測去畫。模型裡比較早的那一種記號，是用來數羊、數工人這類東西的；穀物和其他貨物各有自己的計數系統，而且那時的記號還沒有位值。

Model: an illustration made for this lesson, after descriptions of cuneiform and proto-cuneiform number signs by the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative and museum collections listed in the sources. 模型：為這一課製作的示意，依「楔形文字數位圖書館計畫」與出處所列博物館對楔形文字、原始楔形文字數字記號的說明繪製。

Reading · 英文閱讀

Unit 3: Why Did People Invent Writing?

Think back to the granary in Lesson 2. A village has hundreds of sheep, many families, and a store of grain that has to last until the next harvest. Who brought how much? Who still owes some? Memory is not enough for questions like these. In the cities of southern Mesopotamia, people began to answer them with marks pressed into small pieces of soft clay.

回想第二課的穀倉。一個村子有好幾百隻羊、很多戶人家，還有一倉要吃到下一次收成的穀子。誰交了多少？誰還欠著？這種問題光靠記憶是不夠的。在美索不達米亞南部的城市裡，人們開始用壓在一小塊軟泥上的記號來回答這些問題。

The oldest known writing comes from the city of Uruk, about 3350 to 3000 BCE. A scribe pressed the end of a cut reed into wet clay, and the tablet hardened as it dried in the hot, dry air. Most of these early tablets are accounts: grain, animals, workers, and the food paid to them. A smaller number are lists of words, probably used to train scribes. Writing here began as a tool for keeping track of things.

已知最早的文字來自烏魯克城，大約是西元前 3350 到 3000 年。書吏把削過的蘆葦一端壓進濕泥裡，泥板在又熱又乾的空氣中乾了就變硬。這些早期的泥板大多是帳目：穀物、牲畜、工人，以及發給他們的食物。比較少的一部分是單字的清單，大概是用來訓練書吏的。在這裡，文字一開始是用來記住東西的工具。

Writing was not invented only once. Many scholars count four places where it began from scratch: Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and Mesoamerica. In Egypt, labels from early royal tombs date from about the same time as the Uruk tablets. In China, the earliest surviving writing was carved on shells and bones more than 3,000 years ago, recording the Shang kings' questions and predictions about the future, addressed to their ancestors and spirits. In Mesoamerica, writing recorded dates in a calendar, and later the names and deeds of rulers.

文字不只被發明了一次。許多學者認為它從無到有出現在四個地方：美索不達米亞、埃及、中國和中部美洲。在埃及，早期王室墓葬裡的標籤和烏魯克的泥板差不多同一個時期。在中國，留存下來最早的文字刻在三千多年前的龜甲和獸骨上，記錄商王向祖先和神靈提出的、關於未來的問題與預測。在中部美洲，文字記下曆法上的日子，後來也記統治者的名字和事蹟。

A picture can show a sheep or a jar of grain, but how do you draw a name, or a word like “and”? The answer was a clever trick: use a picture for its sound. In English, a drawing of an eye could stand for the word “I.” Egyptian hieroglyphs used both kinds of signs, some for meanings and some for sounds. Most Chinese characters joined a part that hints at the meaning with a part that hints at the sound.

圖畫可以畫出一隻羊、一甕穀子，可是名字要怎麼畫？像「和」這樣的字要怎麼畫？答案是一個很聰明的辦法：借用圖畫的聲音。在英文裡，畫一隻眼睛（eye）可以代表「我」（I）。埃及的聖書體兩種記號都用，有的代表意思，有的代表聲音。大多數的漢字，則是把提示意思的部分和提示聲音的部分合在一起。

Perhaps as early as 1800 BCE, people who spoke a Semitic language took a few Egyptian signs and used each one for a single sound. Exactly where and when this happened is still argued over. This was the beginning of the alphabet, which later passed to the Phoenicians, the Greeks, and the Romans. An alphabet needs far fewer signs. But that does not make it better than other scripts. Chinese characters, Japanese kana, and many other systems serve the languages they write very well.

可能早在西元前 1800 年，說閃語的人拿了幾個埃及的記號，讓每一個只代表一個聲音。這件事確切發生在哪裡、什麼時候，至今仍有爭論。這就是字母的開始，後來傳給了腓尼基人、希臘人和羅馬人。字母需要的記號少得多。但這並不表示它比別的文字好。漢字、日文的假名和許多其他的文字系統，都把它們所寫的語言服務得很好。

Writing changed what people could do. A promise, a law, or a list could now outlast the person who made it. For most of its history, though, writing was the skill of a few, such as trained scribes. Most people passed on their history by telling it. In Taiwan, the long age before written records is called prehistory. The National Museum of Prehistory names Chen Di's account of 1603 as the earliest record of Taiwan's customs; older Chinese texts may mention the island, but scholars disagree.

文字改變了人能做的事。一個承諾、一條法律、一份清單，現在可以比說出它的人留得更久。不過在文字歷史上大部分的時間裡，讀寫是少數人的技能，例如受過訓練的書吏。大多數的人是靠口耳相傳，把自己的歷史傳下去。在台灣，沒有文字記錄的漫長年代稱為史前時代。國立臺灣史前文化博物館指出，陳第 1603 年寫成的記述是最早關於台灣風俗的紀錄；更早的中文典籍可能提過這座島，但學者看法不一。

Read aloud · 課文朗讀

Questions · 閱讀理解

What were the earliest tablets from Uruk mostly used for, and why does that make sense after Lesson 2?

Mostly for accounts: grain, animals, workers, and the food paid to them. Lesson 2 showed that farming villages stored grain and kept herds, which raised questions of who owned what and who owed what. Those questions are hard to answer from memory alone.

Why couldn't early writers simply draw everything they wanted to say?

Many things cannot be drawn: names, small words like “and” or “if,” and ideas. Using a picture for its sound let writers spell out any word, including names.

The lesson says an alphabet is not “better” than other writing systems. What reasons does it give?

An alphabet uses fewer signs, but other scripts, such as Chinese characters and Japanese kana, also serve their languages well. How good a script is depends on the language it writes and the people who use it, not on the number of its signs.

Words & Phrases · 生字及片語

record(v.)記錄The scribe recorded how many sheep came in.書吏記下了進來了幾隻羊。clay tablet(n.)泥板The clay tablet is smaller than your hand.這塊泥板比你的手還小。scribe(n.)書吏A scribe spent years learning to write.一位書吏要花好幾年學寫字。sign(n.)記號；符號This sign stands for the number ten.這個記號代表數字十。symbol(n.)符號；象徵The dove is a symbol of peace.鴿子是和平的象徵。alphabet(n.)字母（表）The English alphabet has 26 letters.英文字母共有 26 個。decipher(v.)解讀（失傳的文字）No one has managed to decipher the Indus signs.還沒有人能解讀印度河的記號。account(n.)帳目The temple kept careful accounts of its grain.神廟把穀物的帳目記得很仔細。

Quick Check · 小測驗

1. What were most of the earliest tablets from Uruk used for?

2. How many places do many scholars say invented writing from scratch?

3. What did early writers do to write names and other things that are hard to draw?

4. What were the earliest Chinese writings mostly about?

5. Why are the Indus signs still a mystery?

Try It in the Model · 在模型裡試試

Four things to watch 四件值得看的事

Then pick your own number. Try 10 and 60 in the Babylonian way, and ask a friend to read your tablet without looking at the number.
接著自己挑一個數字。在巴比倫的寫法裡試試 10 和 60，再請同學不看數字，讀讀看你的泥板。

One mark, in slow motion一個記號，慢動作

The reed meets the clay · 蘆葦碰到泥的那一刻

Watch the stylus press a single sign. In later cuneiform, the cut end of the reed leaves a wedge-shaped dent. Writing here is pressing, not drawing a line.
看筆壓出一個記號。在後來的楔形文字裡，削過的蘆葦一端會留下一個楔形的凹痕。這裡的「寫」是「壓」，不是畫線。

Twenty-three sheep二十三隻羊

Tens and ones · 十和一

Two signs worth ten and three worth one. A scribe could write a large count with only two kinds of mark, and anyone trained could read it back.
兩個代表十的記號，加三個代表一的記號。書吏只用兩種記號就能寫出很大的數，受過訓練的人都讀得回來。

The older way比較早的寫法

The first tablets · 最早的泥板

The same number in the signs of the earliest tablets, pressed with a round-ended stylus. Different shapes, the same idea: a few signs, each worth a set amount.
同一個數字，用最早的泥板上那種記號，由圓頭的筆壓出來。形狀不一樣，點子一樣：幾種記號，每一種代表一個固定的數量。

When 1 means 60當 1 代表 60

Place value · 位值

In the Babylonian way, used from about 2000 BCE, 61 is written with two upright wedges, and the left one means sixty. Its place tells you its value, as the 1 in 10 means ten. There was no zero sign, so 1 and 60 on their own looked the same, and readers relied on the context.
在大約西元前 2000 年起使用的巴比倫寫法裡，61 寫成兩個直楔，左邊那一個代表六十。它的位置決定它的值，就像 10 裡面的 1 代表十。那時沒有代表零的記號，所以單獨的 1 和 60 看起來一樣，要靠上下文判斷。

Explore · 動手看看

Where Did Writing Begin? 文字從哪裡開始？

Pull the slider from about 5,600 years ago toward the present. Each place lights up when its earliest known writing appears, faintly while the dates are uncertain and strongly once the evidence is clear. Click a number to see what the first writing there was used for.
把滑桿從大約 5,600 年前往現在拉。每個地方在出現已知最早的文字時亮起來：年代還不確定的時候淡淡的，證據明確了才變實。點一個號碼，看看那裡最早的文字是拿來做什麼的。

Places with writing so far目前已經有文字的地方

5,600 years ago5,600 年前 1,900 years ago1,900 年前

Click a numbered circle on the map, or a name below it.點地圖上有號碼的圓，或是地圖下面的名字。

Many scholars count four places where writing was invented from scratch: Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and Mesoamerica. Whether Egypt's writing owed anything to Mesopotamia's is still discussed. The signs of the Indus Valley are shown too, but they have not been deciphered, and whether they record a language is debated.許多學者認為文字從無到有被發明了四次：美索不達米亞、埃及、中國和中部美洲。埃及的文字有沒有受到美索不達米亞的影響，至今仍在討論。印度河流域的記號也畫在地圖上，但它們還沒有被解讀，是不是在記錄一種語言也有爭論。

Game · 小遊戲

A Picture, or a Sound? 是圖，還是聲音？

Pictures can show things, but they cannot easily show names or small words. Early writers solved this with a trick: they used a picture for its sound. These examples use English words. For each one, decide whether the picture means the thing it shows, or stands for a sound. There is no timer.
圖畫可以畫出東西，卻很難畫出名字或小小的虛字。早期的書寫者想出了一個辦法：借用一個圖畫的「聲音」。下面的例子用的是英文字。每一題判斷：這個圖畫的是它本來的東西，還是借它的聲音？不計時。

Right on the first try · 第一次就分對 0 / 0

What is the picture doing here?這裡的圖在做什麼？

Parallel Timeline · 平行時間軸

Writing appears, lane by lane 文字一條線一條線地出現

Each bar marks the earliest known writing in a region. Notice how far apart they are, and how much of human history lies to the left of all of them. Press “Whole span” to see it.
每一條長條標出一個地區已知最早的文字。注意它們彼此隔得多遠，以及人類的歷史有多少是在它們全部的左邊。按「全部」看看。

Click a bar or a diamond to read its dates.點一條長條或一個菱形，讀出它的年代。

Bars that are far apart and in different lanes are the strongest sign that writing was invented more than once.相隔很遠、又在不同線上的長條，是「文字不只被發明一次」最有力的證據。
A striped bar marks a date, or a kind of evidence, that researchers still debate.有條紋的長條，是研究者還在爭論的年代或證據。
The gray diamonds mark a beginning and an ending: the first alphabet, and the last known cuneiform tablet.灰色的菱形標的是一個開始和一個結束：最早的字母，以及已知最後一塊楔形文字泥板。

Earliest writing, Uruk最早的文字：烏魯克

Labels from royal tombs, Egypt埃及王室墓葬的標籤

Indus signs (not deciphered)印度河的記號（未解讀）

The first alphabet最早的字母

Shang oracle bones, China商代的甲骨文

The Greek alphabet希臘字母

Writing in Mesoamerica中部美洲的文字

The last known cuneiform tablet已知最後一塊楔形文字泥板

How Do We Know? · 我們怎麼知道？

What survived, and how it was read 留下來的東西，以及怎麼讀懂它

With writing, the evidence finally speaks for itself, but only if it has survived and only if someone can read it.
有了文字，證據終於能自己說話——但前提是它留了下來，而且有人讀得懂。

Clay that lasts留得住的泥

Most clay tablets were only dried in the sun, yet in the dry climate of Mesopotamia a great many survived in the ground. More than half a million are now kept in collections around the world.
大多數的泥板只是曬乾而已，但在美索不達米亞乾燥的氣候裡，很多都在地底下保存了下來。現在世界各地的收藏裡有超過五十萬塊。

Its limits · 它的限制Writing on papyrus, wood, bamboo, cloth, or leaves rots away, so what survives is not all that was written. A place with few surviving texts may simply have written on softer things.寫在莎草紙、木頭、竹子、布或葉子上的字會腐爛，所以留下來的並不是當時寫的全部。一個留下很少文字的地方，可能只是寫在比較不耐久的東西上。

Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative; Penn Museum, Expedition (1976) ↗

Shells and bones龜甲和獸骨

The Shang kings' questions and predictions were carved on turtle shells and cattle bones and buried at Anyang. They were recognized as writing in 1899 and have been dug up in great numbers since.
商王的提問和預測刻在龜甲和牛骨上，埋在安陽。它們在 1899 年被認出是文字，之後大量出土。

Its limits · 它的限制Almost all of them are records of the royal court asking about the future. They tell us little about how ordinary people lived or spoke.它們幾乎都是王室向未來提問的記錄，對一般人怎麼生活、怎麼說話，說得很少。

教育部教育百科「甲骨文」 ↗

Reading a lost script讀懂失傳的文字

When a script stops being used, it has to be deciphered. Michael Ventris announced his decipherment of the Greek script called Linear B in 1952, and in the same year the Russian scholar Yuri Knorozov announced that he could match some Maya signs to Maya words.
一種文字不再有人使用之後，就得重新「解讀」。1952 年，文屈斯（Michael Ventris）宣布解讀了一種叫「線形文字 B」的希臘文字；同一年，俄國學者克諾羅佐夫（Yuri Knorozov）宣布他能把一些馬雅的記號和馬雅語的字對起來。

Its limits · 它的限制Some scripts have never been deciphered, such as the Indus signs. Without a key, or a language we know, the marks stay silent.有些文字至今沒有被解讀，例如印度河的記號。沒有鑰匙，也不知道它記的是哪一種語言，這些記號就一直沉默。

University of Cambridge, Faculty of Classics, “The Life of Michael Ventris” ↗

Different Accounts · 不同的說法

Four questions about the first writing 關於最早的文字的四個問題

Even the beginning of writing, the point where history is said to start, is argued over. Here are four questions. The views are set side by side; this lesson does not choose between them.
就連文字的開端——常被說是「歷史開始」的地方——也有爭論。下面是四個問題。各種說法並列，這一課不替誰下結論。

Was writing invented once, or several times?文字是被發明一次，還是好幾次？

Several times好幾次
A curator at the University of Chicago's museum, describing the scholarship of the last few decades, counts four places where writing was invented from scratch: Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and Mesoamerica.
芝加哥大學博物館的一位策展人整理近幾十年的研究，認為文字在四個地方從無到有地被發明：美索不達米亞、埃及、中國和中部美洲。
University of Chicago News (2010); University of Chicago Magazine (2011) ↗
Fewer than that沒有那麼多次
An older view held that writing began in Mesopotamia and the idea spread from there. Egypt is still the case most debated, because its writing appeared at almost the same time, not far away.
比較早的看法認為文字從美索不達米亞開始，這個點子再從那裡傳開。至今爭論最多的還是埃及，因為它的文字幾乎同時出現，距離又不遠。
University of Chicago Magazine (2011) ↗

Where things stand · 目前的情況Most scholars think Chinese and Mesoamerican writing began independently, although a few have argued that the idea of writing reached China from the west. The liveliest debate is about Egypt.多數學者認為中國和中部美洲的文字是各自開始的，不過也有少數學者主張，「文字」這個點子是從西方傳到中國的。爭論最熱烈的是埃及。

Did writing grow out of small clay tokens?文字是從小小的陶籌演變來的嗎？

Yes是
The archaeologist Denise Schmandt-Besserat argues that small clay tokens, used for counting goods from about 8000 to 3500 BCE, were the forerunners of the first written signs.
考古學家施曼特－貝瑟拉（Denise Schmandt-Besserat）主張，大約西元前 8000 到 3500 年用來計算貨物的小陶籌，是最早的文字記號的前身。
Schmandt-Besserat, “The Evolution of Writing,” University of Texas ↗
Not so simply沒有那麼簡單
Reviewers have criticized her methods and pointed out that the tokens are too varied, and found over too wide an area, to fit one neat story. Other specialists accept that some simple tokens were forerunners of writing, but not all of her readings.
書評者批評她的研究方法，並指出這些陶籌種類太多、分布太廣，放不進一個整齊的故事裡。也有專家接受其中一部分簡單的陶籌是文字的前身，但不接受她全部的解讀。
Zimansky (1993); Michalowski (1993); Englund (c. 2011) ↗

Where things stand · 目前的情況The theory has been partly accepted, not simply proved or disproved.這個理論部分被接受，並沒有被簡單地證明或推翻。

Are the Indus signs writing?印度河的記號是文字嗎？

No不是
Three scholars argued in 2004 that the Indus signs were a system of symbols that did not record a spoken language.
三位學者在 2004 年主張，印度河的記號是一套符號系統，並沒有記錄口說的語言。
Farmer, Sproat, and Witzel, Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies 11 (2004) ↗
Possibly可能是
A 2009 study measured how the signs follow one another and found the patterns closer to those of languages than of non-linguistic systems.
2009 年的一項研究測量記號前後相接的規律，發現它比較像語言，而不像非語言的符號系統。
Rao et al., Science 324 (2009); a reply: Sproat, Computational Linguistics 36 (2010) ↗

Where things stand · 目前的情況Until the signs are deciphered, if they ever are, the question stays open.在這些記號被解讀之前（如果有那一天），這個問題都不會有答案。

Was writing invented for keeping accounts?文字是為了記帳而發明的嗎？

In Mesopotamia, mostly yes在美索不達米亞，大致是
About 85 percent of the early tablets from Uruk are administrative records, by one specialist's count. He puts it plainly: cuneiform began with number signs.
依一位專家的統計，烏魯克早期的泥板大約百分之八十五是行政記錄。他說得很直接：楔形文字是從數字記號開始的。
Englund, “Accounting in Proto-cuneiform” (c. 2011) ↗
Not everywhere不是每個地方都這樣
The earliest Chinese writing records divination, and one of the earliest Maya texts includes a calendar date. Even in Mesopotamia, word lists appear from the start, and one specialist suggests they may be the earliest known literature.
中國最早的文字記的是占卜；最早的馬雅文字裡，有一段記的是曆法上的日子。就算在美索不達米亞，單字的清單也是一開始就有，有一位專家認為它們可能是已知最早的文學。
University of Chicago Magazine (2011); Stuart et al. (2022) ↗

Where things stand · 目前的情況“Why writing began” may have a different answer in each place it began.「文字為什麼開始」，在每一個它開始的地方，答案可能都不一樣。

Notice that the disagreements are not only about dates. They are also about definitions: what counts as writing at all.留意這些分歧不只是年代的問題，也是定義的問題：怎樣才算是「文字」？

History English · 歷史英語

Eight sentences for talking about old writing 談古老文字的八句英文

These sentences help you talk about writing the way historians do: what is the earliest known, what a sign stands for, and what is still unread. Listen, repeat, then make your own sentence with the words in bold.
這八句幫你用歷史學家的方式談文字：已知最早的是什麼、一個記號代表什麼、什麼還沒有被讀懂。先聽、再跟著唸，然後用粗體的字自己造一句。

The earliest known writing comes from Uruk.
已知最早的文字來自烏魯克。
the earliest known: the oldest found so far目前找到最早的
Most of the first tablets were used to keep accounts.
最早的泥板大多是拿來記帳的。
were used to + verb: what something was for說某樣東西的用途
This sign stands for the number ten.
這個記號代表數字十。
stands for: means, represents代表
A picture can stand for a sound as well as a thing.
一個圖畫可以代表一個聲音，也可以代表一個東西。
stand for a sound: be used for how it is said借用它的聲音
The Indus signs have not been deciphered.
印度河的記號還沒有被解讀。
have not been deciphered: no one can read them yet還沒有人讀得懂
Writing was invented independently in several places.
文字在好幾個地方被各自獨立地發明。
was invented independently: began separately各自開始
Scholars generally agree that China invented its own writing.
學者一般都同意，中國的文字是自己發明的。
scholars generally agree that: most experts think大多數專家認為
Writing made it possible to keep a promise after the speaker was gone.
文字讓一個承諾在說話的人離開之後還能留下來。
made it possible to: allowed something new讓某件事變得可能

Taiwan at That Time · 那時候的台灣

From spoken history to written records 從口傳的歷史到文字的記錄

When the first tablets were being pressed at Uruk, Taiwan's people were living through the age the museum calls prehistory. Their history was carried in memory and speech.
烏魯克的第一批泥板被壓出來的時候，台灣的住民正生活在博物館所說的史前時代。他們的歷史，是靠記憶和口語傳下來的。

History does not begin with writing; only written records do. Taiwan's story shows how much was passed on by speaking, and how writing arrived late, from outside, and was then taken up by the people themselves.
歷史不是從文字開始的，開始的只是文字的記錄。台灣的故事讓我們看到，有多少東西是靠說話傳下來的；也看到文字是很晚才從外面來的，後來又被這裡的人拿來自己用。

Prehistory, in the museum's words博物館怎麼說史前
The National Museum of Prehistory explains that prehistory is the age without written records, when people passed down what had happened by telling it, from one generation to the next.
國立臺灣史前文化博物館說明：「史前時期是指沒有文字紀錄的年代，史前人們用口語流傳的方式，把過去發生的事一代傳一代地說給後代子孫聽。」
國立臺灣史前文化博物館「從史前走進歷史」 ↗
The earliest written descriptions最早的文字描述
In 1603 Chen Di wrote Dongfan ji, which the same museum calls the earliest record of customs in Taiwan. An older Chinese history, the Book of Sui, describes a place called Liuqiu, but scholars have long disagreed about whether it means Taiwan.
1603 年，陳第寫下《東番記》，同一座博物館稱它留下了「最早關於臺灣風俗的紀錄」。更早的《隋書》描寫過一個叫「流求」的地方，但它指的是不是台灣，學者之間一直有不同的看法。
林鶴亭〈隋書流求傳之研究〉，《臺南文化》(1959) ↗
A language written in Latin letters用羅馬字寫下的語言
In the 17th century Dutch missionaries taught Siraya communities to write their own language in Latin letters. The so-called Sinckan (or Sinkang) manuscripts, mostly land contracts and loans, kept being written long after the Dutch left: the earliest known is from 1683 and the latest from 1813 or 1818, depending on the source. More than 140 survive.
十七世紀，荷蘭傳教士教西拉雅族的社群用羅馬字書寫自己的語言。所謂的「新港文書」大多是土地契約，荷蘭人離開以後還繼續有人寫：已知最早的是 1683 年，最晚的是 1813 年或 1818 年（兩份資料不同）。現存大約一百四十多件。
中央研究院民族學研究所〈新港文書〉；中央研究院臺灣史研究所檔案館 ↗
Today今天
Since 2005, Taiwan's Indigenous languages have had official writing systems in Latin letters, set by the Council of Indigenous Peoples and the Ministry of Education. The announcement itself names the Sinckan manuscripts as part of that history.
2005 年起，臺灣的原住民族語言有了由原住民族委員會和教育部公告、以羅馬字書寫的書寫系統。公告本身就提到，「新港文書」是這段歷史的一部分。
原住民族委員會、教育部《原住民族語言書寫系統》(2005) ↗

Taiwan's Story, Lesson 1: How Do We Know What Happened Long Ago?台灣歷史第一課：很久以前的事，我們怎麼知道？ →Taiwan's Story, Lesson 2: Who Lived in Taiwan Thousands of Years Ago?台灣歷史第二課：幾千年前，誰住在台灣？ →

Stories Behind the Evidence · 證據背後的故事

A last tablet, an architect, a deer, and some old bones 最後一塊泥板、一位建築師、一隻鹿，和幾塊舊骨頭

Four short stories about how writing ended, and how it was found again.
四個小故事：文字怎麼結束，又怎麼被重新找到。

79 or 80 CE · Mesopotamia · 美索不達米亞

The last tablet最後一塊泥板

Cuneiform was written for more than three thousand years. The latest datable tablet found so far is an astronomical text from 79 or 80 CE. After that, the script was forgotten until scholars in the 19th century learned to read it again.
楔形文字被使用了三千多年。目前找到最晚、可以定年的一塊泥板，是西元 79 或 80 年的天文記錄。在那之後，這種文字被遺忘了，直到十九世紀的學者才又重新學會讀它。

1952 · Greece · 希臘

An architect cracks a code一位建築師解開密碼

Clay tablets from ancient Crete and mainland Greece were written in a script called Linear B. For decades no one could read them. Michael Ventris, an architect, showed that they recorded an early form of Greek, and his decipherment was broadcast to the world on July 1, 1952.
古代克里特島和希臘本土出土的泥板，寫的是一種叫「線形文字 B」的文字。幾十年來沒有人讀得懂。建築師文屈斯證明它記的是一種早期的希臘語，他的解讀在 1952 年 7 月 1 日透過廣播公諸於世。

About 300–200 BCE · Mesoamerica · 中部美洲

A day called 7 Deer一個叫「七鹿」的日子

At San Bartolo in Guatemala, painted fragments of a wall carry the oldest dated Maya calendar sign found so far: a day called 7 Deer, in a 260-day calendar. It shows that keeping track of time was already part of the earliest Maya writing.
在瓜地馬拉的聖巴托洛，一面牆的彩繪殘片上，有目前所知最早、可以定年的馬雅曆法記號：260 天曆法裡一個叫「七鹿」的日子。這說明記錄時間在最早的馬雅文字裡就已經出現了。

1899 · China · 中國

Writing on old bones舊骨頭上的字

Shells and bones from Xiaotun village near Anyang were recognized as ancient writing in 1899. One standard reference lists 4,672 different characters on them, of which 1,723 can be transcribed into later standard characters; the meanings of many are still unclear. Lesson 5 of the Chinese Calligraphy series looks at them closely.
1899 年，安陽小屯村一帶出土的龜甲和獸骨被認出是古代的文字。一部常用的工具書收錄了上面 4,672 個不同的字，其中 1,723 個可以隸定成後來的楷字；很多字的意思到現在還不清楚。書法系列第五課會仔細看它們。

In the Curriculum · 對應課綱

Where this lesson fits 這一課對應的課綱

These entries come from Taiwan's 12-Year Basic Education curriculum for social studies (October 2018). The curriculum has no entry on the invention of writing. This lesson is enrichment for the entries below.
下面的條目出自十二年國民基本教育課程綱要社會領域（民國 107 年 10 月）。課綱裡沒有談「文字的發明」的條目。這一課是下面這些條目的延伸。

歷 Na-Ⅳ-1國中・古代文化的遺產 · Junior high · the heritage of ancient cultures
非洲與西亞的早期文化。
The curriculum's explanation suggests focusing on Egypt and, in West Asia, on Sumer, Babylon, and Persia. This lesson shows the writing that those cultures left behind.課綱的說明建議以埃及，以及西亞的蘇美、巴比倫和波斯為主。這一課讓學生看到這些文化留下的文字。
歷 Ba-Ⅳ-1國中・早期臺灣 · Junior high · early Taiwan
考古發掘與史前文化。
The curriculum's explanation notes that Taiwan's earliest inhabitants left no written records, so archaeology and oral tradition are the two main ways to trace them. The “Taiwan at That Time” card follows this line of thought.課綱的說明寫道：「臺灣最早的主人們沒有留下文字資料，要追索他們在臺灣的足跡，考古資料和口頭傳說是最重要的兩個途徑。」「那時候的台灣」這張卡就是順著這個思路寫的。

Myth vs. Fact · 常見迷思

Four things people get wrong 四個常見的誤會

✗ Myth · 迷思Writing was invented to record stories, poems, and history.文字是為了記錄故事、詩和歷史而發明的。

✓ Fact · 事實About 85 percent of the early tablets from Uruk are administrative records; in China the earliest writing records divination. Stories and poems came later, although word lists appear from the very start.烏魯克早期的泥板大約百分之八十五是行政記錄；在中國，最早的文字記的是占卜。故事和詩是後來的事，不過單字的清單從一開始就有了。

✗ Myth · 迷思Egyptian hieroglyphs are just pictures.埃及的聖書體就只是圖畫。

✓ Fact · 事實They mixed picture signs with signs that stood for sounds, using the same trick as a picture of an eye standing for the word “I.”它們把圖畫記號和代表聲音的記號混在一起用，用的就是「畫一隻眼睛代表 I」那種辦法。

✗ Myth · 迷思Chinese characters are pictures of things.漢字都是畫東西的圖。

✓ Fact · 事實A few began as pictures, but about nine in ten of the characters in the Shuowen jiezi, a dictionary from about 2,000 years ago, combine a meaning part with a sound part. In the much older oracle bone script, such characters were still a small share, perhaps 10 to 20 percent by one estimate.有一些字一開始是圖畫，但在大約兩千年前的字典《說文解字》裡，大約十個字有九個是把表意的部分和表音的部分合在一起的形聲字。在更古老的甲骨文裡，這種字還只占一小部分，有一種估計是百分之十到二十左右。

✗ Myth · 迷思The alphabet is the most advanced kind of writing.字母是最先進的文字。

✓ Fact · 事實An alphabet uses fewer signs, but a museum essay on its history notes that widespread literacy does not require an alphabet. Many historians of writing would add that each script suits the language it was made for, so none is simply better than another.字母用的記號比較少，但一篇談字母歷史的博物館文章指出，要讓很多人識字，並不一定需要字母。許多研究文字史的學者也會補充：每一種文字都適合它所寫的語言，所以沒有哪一種是單純比較好的。

Remember It · 記憶口訣

Four lines to keep 四句帶著走

First the count, then the story先記帳，後說故事

In Mesopotamia, writing began with numbers and lists. Literature came much later.
在美索不達米亞，文字是從數字和清單開始的。文學是很久以後的事。

Four times from scratch從無到有，四次

Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, Mesoamerica. Different places, different signs, the same idea.
美索不達米亞、埃及、中國、中部美洲。不同的地方、不同的記號、同一個點子。

Borrow the sound借聲音

Eye for “I.” When a picture can stand for a sound, anything that can be said can be written.
用 eye 寫 I。一旦圖畫能代表聲音，說得出口的話就都寫得下來。

No winner among scripts文字不分高下

Alphabet or characters: each fits the language it writes.
字母也好、漢字也好：每一種都適合它所寫的語言。

Classroom Activity 1 · 課堂活動一

Keep the Class Accounts in Clay 用黏土替全班記帳

You need · 準備材料

A lump of clay or play dough for each pair, about the size of a large cookie每兩人一塊黏土或紙黏土，大約一片大餅乾那麼大
A chopstick or a craft stick with one end cut at a slant, to press wedges一支一端斜切的筷子或冰棒棍，用來壓出楔形

Steps · 步驟

Flatten the clay into a tablet that fits in your palm.把黏土壓成可以放在掌心的泥板。
Count something real in the classroom: chairs, windows, people who walk to school. Write each count in Babylonian numbers: an upright wedge for each one, a corner wedge for each ten.數一數教室裡真的有的東西：椅子、窗戶、走路上學的人。用巴比倫的數字寫下每個數：一個直楔代表一，一個角楔代表十。
Swap tablets with another pair. Read their numbers out in English: “There are twenty-six chairs.”和另一組交換泥板，用英文唸出他們的數字：「There are twenty-six chairs.」
Now try to record what was counted, without using any letters or characters. How would you show “chairs”? How would you show your teacher's name?接著試著記下「數的是什麼」，但不可以用任何字母或漢字。「椅子」要怎麼表示？老師的名字又要怎麼表示？

Step 4 is the lesson. Students usually find that things are easy to draw and names are not, which is exactly the problem early writers solved by borrowing sounds.
第四步就是這堂課的重點。學生通常會發現：東西很好畫，名字卻畫不出來——這正是早期的書寫者借用聲音所解決的問題。

Classroom Activity 2 · 課堂活動二

Write Your Name in Rebus 用畫謎寫你的名字