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CONTENTS
Page
FOREWORD
XI
5. 5ch
PREFACE
13
INTRODUCTION
Study of history of writing. Writing and early civilization. Various stages of writing: embryo-writing; iconography and "sympathetic magic"-rock pictures; mnemonic devices; symbolic means of communication; pictography or picture-writing; ideographic writing; transitional scripts; phonetic writing: syllabaries or syllabic writing; the alphabet.
5
FIRST PART
NON-ALPHABETIC SYSTEMS OF WRITING
Chapter I. CUNEIFORM WRITING
The name. Beginnings. Development of system. The peoples who employed cuneiform writing: Sumerians; Babylonians and Assyrians; other peoples: Elamites: Early Elamite script; Neo-Elamite writing. End of the cuneiform writing. Decipherment. Bibliography.
II. HIEROGLYPHIC WRITING
The name. Origins. History of hieroglyphic writing. Hieratic writing. Demotie writing. Decipherment of Egyptian scripts. Bibliography
III.
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CRETAN SCRIPTS Minoan civilization. Undeciphered scripts of Crete: Pictographie scripts; Linear scripts. Origin of Cretan scripts. Attempted decipherments. The Phaistos dise. Bibliography.
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IV. INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION AND ITS UNDECIPHERED SCRIPT
General sketch. Exploration, excavation and studies, Cultural and chronological relationships with other civilizations. The Indus Valley script. Origin. Attempted decipherments. Supposed influences on other scripts. Bibliography.
