Practice question · Numerical answer
How many times is writing usually said to have been invented independently?
Hints
- Mesopotamia and China are two of them.
- Mesopotamia, China, Mesoamerica and probably Egypt.
Show the answer
4
Why
Four, and one of them is disputed. Egyptian writing appears close enough in time to Mesopotamian that stimulus diffusion cannot be ruled out. The other three are widely accepted as independent, which is the more important point: writing is invented rarely, while speech is universal.
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