040 __ |a DLC |c DLC |d YDXCP |d BTCTA |d BWKUK |d BWK |d CDX |d DLC |d CASHLWZ

245 10 |a Writing : |b theory and history of the technology of civilization / |c Barry B. Powell.

505 0_ |a Introduction : a difficult topic, little studied, poorly understood -- What is writing? -- Writing with signs -- Categories and features of writing -- Some general issues in the study of writing -- Protocuneiform and counting tokens -- Origins of lexigraphic writing in Mesopotamia -- Plato's Ideas and Champollion's decipherment of the Egyptian hieroglyphs -- Egyptian writing and Egyptian speech -- The origin and nature of Egyptian writing -- "The house of life" : scribes and writing in ancient Egypt -- Syllabic scripts of the Aegean -- The West Semitic revolution -- What kind of writing was West Semitic? -- The origins of West Semitic writing -- Chinese logography -- Lexigraphic writing in Mesoamerica -- The Greek alphabet : a writing that changed the world -- Summary and conclusions.