WRITING 



365 



neolithic and i the succeeding Bronze Age, arejalso 

 very difficult to interpret ; so too are the rough 

 irregular figures cut on flat stones, and the " Dol- 

 men" stones from the North of France, England, 

 Ireland and South Scandinavia which are sym- 

 bolically decorated with shells, crooks, yokes, 

 combs, hatchets, axes and bucklers. Then there 

 are the inscriptions on the rocks at Bohuslan 

 (Sweden), the ornamented stone plaques in the 

 civic monument in Schonen, and the small stone 

 basins found in Switzerland and other countries, 

 all of which are hard to decipher. 



We must suppose that much of these hiero- 

 glyphics deal with the exploits of various races 

 and their chieftains, of voyages and raids, and 

 ideas as to the rule of the gods ; but we have 

 nothing on which to base an accurate interpre- 

 tation. 



To pass on to the hieroglyphics of the ancients, 

 those of the Egyptians must by rights be first 

 mentioned (Fig. 186). Flinders Petrie, however, 

 thinks that the earliest beginnings of the Egyp- 

 tian hieroglyphics are to be found on a neolithic 

 vase discovered by himself, which is painted with 

 a mixture of geometrical figures and convention- 

 ally drawn natural objects (plants). 



By-and-by, in the course of the next thousand 

 years, the sacred writings were put together; 500 

 signs were used, more or less true pictures of men, 

 animals and objects of all sorts, and their values 

 and meaning may be classified under four head- 

 ings, namely, alphabetical signs, signs representing 

 syllables, signs representing words, and deter- 

 minatives. These are not all engraved on stone, 

 or metal, but are written, or rather painted, with 

 reed pens on papyrus leaves. 



Passing over the hieroglyphics of the Mesopo- 

 tamians, the ancient Persians and the Armenians, 

 which are thought to be the historical antecedents 



FIG. 186. One 

 side of the 

 hieroglyphics 

 inscribed on 

 the obelisk at 

 Luxor. (Kar- 

 peles.) 



