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Hieroglyph It: Discover the Picture Language of Ancient Egypt

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Recent discoveries, however, are undermining ancient Mesopotamia's status as the origin of writing. In 1998, a German archaeologist discovered writing at the tomb of King Scorpion the First in Abydos, near Luxor, in Egypt. He says that this writing dates back to 3400 B.C., a few hundred years before the earliest known Mesopotamian writing. The writing was discovered both on pottery and clay tablets. In 1999, American archaeologists digging at the ancient site of Harappa in Pakistan discovered what they say is writing that dates back to around 3500 B.C. Harappa was at that time a major city in the ancient Indus Valley civilization which dominated western India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. While both early Mesopotamian and Egyptian writing is clearly related to trade, the ancient Indus script has still not been deciphered.

While neither the ancient Egyptian nor Indus discoveries conclusively prove that one civilization can claim to have invented writing, these discoveries suggest that writing developed simultaneously and perhaps independently in a number of places.
Who knows what will be found next. Keep an open mind.

Cuneiform. Sound familiar? The writings of the ancient summerians on clay tablets are some of the oldest forms of structured writen language known to man. Please don't say that this is the oldest form of written language that is a false statement and your activity book is good enough to stand on its own merits. A few friendly words from an anthropologist.