The origin of writing systems: Preclassic Mesoamerica

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Abstract
This paper focuses on the origins of Mesoamerican writing, analyzing remains of precursor systems in terms of the linguistic and graphic resources for the emergence of written language. This emergence is seen as the outcome of a conjunction of numerals with elements of representational art. Hieroglyphic writing emerged in southern Mesoamerica during the era of state formation, apparently via this process, to represent day names in the ritual calendar; the graphic precursors were numerals and Olmec iconography used in ritual context. Contrasting evolutionary developments affected two script traditions descended from the rudimentary ancestral script; grammatical differences among the languages represented seem largely responsible for these contrasts. A Oaxacan textual tradition remained relentlessly logographic; it ‘devolved’ into a captioning adjunct to a richer iconographic system for recording information pertinent to elite activities and prerogatives. A Southeastern Mesoamerican tradition, culminating in Mayan writing, evolved increasingly thorough representation of language and always remained textual.

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