[hunter10]

I was doing some research and i just found out that in nigeria my country of origin, there is an ancient form of written language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nsibidi

just wanted to know what your thoughts are.

[Thunderhawk]

The wikipedia article calls it indigenous - to what degree? Did the people see other written languages, get inspired and make their own written languages (like Korean and Navaho) ? Did they create it without knowing of the concept of written languages? Was it an indigenous version of some one else's text that evolved into something separate?

[lessnot]

The article states it's 5000 years old, given that Chinese and Egyptian arose independently at the same time it being indigenous without external influence would be the most likely explanation.

[Quantum]

[Nonsense deleted]

Yes, because there was no written language in Africa before Western colonisation and any evidence to the contrary must be a figment of somebody's imagination.

[Thunderhawk]

Nsibidi is said to date back between 4000 and 5000 BC[1] or at least as old as the Ikom monoliths which date back to AD 170

That [1] links to: http://books.google.com/books?id=jIqKJX0BUx4C&pg=PA98
Which is a book about a justice system using traditional social customs. Not an archeology book, not a history book nor even a museum reference. If the Wikipedia article said 1-2k BC Id have accepted it and moved on, but claiming 4-5k BC seems to me as a rather huge piece of history, and that needs a source more reliable then what is given. This leads me to believe its mythical history stemming from old Christian tales including the morality ones and that of the Earth being ~6000 years old. Given the Christian heritage of the region and that the source is a book about society and justive (just like religions), I think its wacky Chirstian tales being absorbed and transformed into a mythical history for the written language.


A native 2k year old written language, autonomously creates or not, is an impressive feat most peoples cannot claim. If the 4-5k old age claim is false then its quite the big lie, in which case the rest of the story becomes heavily suspect and a potentially impressive piece of history becomes dismissed as propaganda because of that taint.

[War Angel]

10,000 year-old writing? Ehh... gonna need some serious proof.

[Otebo]

Nsibidi is said to date back between 4000 and 5000 BC[1] or at least as old as the Ikom monoliths which date back to AD 170

That's quite a big difference to be unsure about.