How old is writing?

If we believe the common narrative, writing emerged in Sumeria in the third millennium BC. Others consider the Jiahu symbols from China or the Vinča symbols from Serbia as examples as the first writing. However, new archeological data keeps changing these theories. A 7,000-year-old tablet found in Greece contradicts the traditional narrative. Unsurprisingly, it has triggered fierce debates among linguists. In part, this is because we first need to define writing.

So, what is writing? As Colleen Anne Coyle, PhD, explains on Quora, this question is harder to answer than you might expect.

The Dispilio Tablet

According to conventional archaeology, writing wasn’t invented until 3000 to 4000 BC in Sumeria. However, an artifact recovered over a decade ago contradicts this belief.

The Dispilio Tablet (also known as the Dispilio Scripture or the Dispilio Disk ) is a wooden tablet bearing…