3200 BC – 3190 BCs

Events in 3200 BC – 3190 BC 1

• 3200 BC – 3000 BC Hieroglyphic writing invented -- c.3200 BC Egyptian hieroglyphic writing develops c.3200-3100 BC -- roughly contemporaneously with Sumerian cuneiform and independently of it. The earliest examples are administrative labels found at Abydos in the tomb of a predynastic ruler (U-j, c.3200 BC). Hieroglyphs are a mixed system combining logograms, phonograms and determinatives comprising over 700 signs. Hieratic (a cursive form) is used for everyday writing on papyrus; demotic (a further simplification) in the Late Period. The script is deciphered by Champollion in 1822 using the Rosetta Stone.