The origins of Chinese writing. Archaeological and textual analysis of the pre-dynastic evidence

The present dissertation is a comparative study in the field of Chinese palaeography, art history, ancient history and archaeology. Its aim is that of decoding and pinpointing in time the origins of the Chinese writing system, demonstrating that contrary to what some scholars still seem to believe, writing started in China very early, possibly just as early as in the Middle East.;The dissertation is divided into two main parts. The first (Chapter I) is a theoretical discussion about writing which shows that rather than being simply a method of recording spoken language, writing grew out of a human need visually to record events and things, as a mnemonic device and an externalization of memory.;The second deals primarily with the historical origin of Chinese writing and of Chinese civilization as whole during the Longshan era. Specifically, Chapter II discusses historical sources and legends concerning the pre-Xia period, Chapter III presents the archaeological evidence of the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods, and Chapter IV examines the pre-Shang signs, graphs and glyphs excavated in archaeological context.