Book: The Idea of History
Collingwood helped show that history is not just collecting facts. It is the disciplined reconstruction of past human thought and action from surviving evidence.
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Journalism
The Journalism Timeline
Dispilio Tablet: European Proto-Writing
About 7,260 Years Ago someone created the Dispilio Tablet. Discovered in 1993 in the Neolithic Settlement of Dispilio in Greece. It is an ancient wooden tablet, etched with intricate symbols, yet to be deciphered,
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Printing Press Invented
Publishing, whether the printing press or digital, transforms your ideas from private claims into public debate.
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Journalism
Public truth needs more than stories; it needs reporting. Journalism helps turn you turn what “people say” into “here is what we can show.”
Fourth Estate
You need a fully free press because public truth needs watchdogs, not just officials and institutions.
Olmec Hieroglyphs: Mexico
Earliest known writing in the Americas zone. The Olmec civilization flourished in what is now the southeastern part of Mexico from around 1500 BC to about 400 BC. The Olmecs are often referred to as the “Mother Culture” of Mesoamerica, influencing later civilizations like the Maya and the Aztecs. The Cascajal Block artifact, dated to
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Cretan Hieroglyphic script: Greek Island
Earliest known writing in the European/Mediterranean zone. The earliest known writing system in the European/Mediterranean zone is the Cretan Hieroglyphic script from ancient Crete, part of the Minoan civilization. This script dates back to around 1900 BC to 1700 BC. Closely related and slightly later in development is Linear A, which emerged around 1800 BC
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Indus Valley Script: Northwest India
Earliest undeciphered writing in the Asian zone. The Indus Valley script, emerging around 2600 BCE in one of the world’s earliest urban civilizations, remains one of archaeology’s greatest puzzles. Found across a vast expanse from today’s northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India, this script comprises over 400 unique symbols, ranging from geometric shapes to
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Oracle Bone Script: China
Earliest deciphered writing in Asian zone: Indus Valley writing, undeciphered, predates this to circa 2600 BCE. The earliest known writing system in Asia is typically considered to be the Oracle Bone Script from ancient China. This script was used during the Shang Dynasty around 1200 BCE, but evidence suggests it may have developed as early
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Lebombo bone: First Lunar Phase Counter
Journalism has roots going back to early attempts to document. It matters because rumor is easy and verification is hard. Watch bylines. Trust reporting over journalist over opinion.
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Oldest Known Library: Ebla
17,000 fragments totally maybe 2,500 tablets, discoved in the 1970s, only a few hundred have been translated. The library of Ebla, located in the ancient city of the same name was located in modern-day Syria. This library dates back to the 24th century BCE and contained thousands of clay tablets written in Sumerian and Eblaite,
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Proto-Sinaitic script
155 Generations Ago The Proto-Sinaitic alphabet is considered the earliest trace of alphabetic writing and the common ancestor of both Ancient South Arabian script and the Phoenician alphabet. The ancient South Arabian script evolved about 1900 BCE which continued to evolve into today’s Modern South Arabian languages. The Phoenician alphabet evolved into the Greek alphabet
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Phoenician Alphabet
133 Generations Ago The Phoenician alphabet is a direct continuation of the Proto-Canaanite script circa 1300 BCE. Starting about 900 BCE, the Phoenician alphabet thrived and was adapted by others. It evolved into use by many languages including Greek, Old Italic and Anatolian scripts. These early uses of the alphabet evolved into the alphanumeric alphabet.
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Word-Spacing
For thousands of years, writing had very little grammar. Grammar helps, and you should respect grammar, but serve the reader first.
Neolithic Symbols: China
Good journalism slows the spread of error by checking what happened, who said it, and what supports it.
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Cuneiform Writing
Earliest known writing in Africa/Middle East zone. Human DNA today is the same as 50,000 BCE. There is no doubt there were many dozens and perhaps thousands of civilizations prior to the Sumer civilization, but Sumer is the earliest known, or at least the earliest well known. The Sumer civilization first established between 6500 and
Upper and Lowercase Starts
Before punctuation, reading was too challenging but don’t let modern grammar slow you down. Writing well means more than being correct; it means being clear.
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