Section: Social Complexity
Subsection: Writing Systems

Written Record

written records are more than short and fragmentary inscriptions, such as found on tombs or runic stones. there must be several sentences strung together, at the very minimum. for example, royal proclamations from mesopotamia and egypt qualify as written records   (See here)
Contributors:

Variable Definition
Polity The Seshat Polity ID
Year(s) The years for which we have the data. [negative = BCE]
Tag [Evidenced, Disputed, Suspected, Inferred, Unknown]
Verified A Seshat Expert has approved this piece of data.

Variable Definition
written_record The absence or presence of written record for a polity.

# Polity Year(s) Written Record Description   Edit
271
(Italian Kingdom Late Antiquity)
Full Year Range of Italian Kingdom Late Antiquity is assumed.
[476, 489]
present
None
272
(Hallstatt B2-3)
Full Year Range of Hallstatt B2-3 is assumed.
[-900, -700]
unknown
None
273
(Hallstatt C)
Full Year Range of Hallstatt C is assumed.
[-700, -600]
unknown
None
274
(Hallstatt D)
Full Year Range of Hallstatt D is assumed.
[-600, -475]
unknown
None
275
(Classical Crete)
Full Year Range of Classical Crete is assumed.
[-500, -323]
present
None
276
(The Emirate of Crete)
Full Year Range of The Emirate of Crete is assumed.
[824, 961]
present
None
277
(Timurid Empire)
Full Year Range of Timurid Empire is assumed.
[1370, 1526]
present
None
278
(Neo-Assyrian Empire)
Full Year Range of Neo-Assyrian Empire is assumed.
[-911, -612]
present
None
279
(Early Maravi)
Full Year Range of Early Maravi is assumed.
[1400, 1499]
absent
The following suggests that writing did not develop indigenously in the region. "The earliest of the written documents on Malawi go back to the sixteenth century. Some adventurous Portuguese explorers and traders who periodically passed through central and southern Malawi as they sought minerals and other resources in the interior of the region wrote these documents." [Juwayeyi 2020]
280
(Northern Maravi Kingdom)
Full Year Range of Northern Maravi Kingdom is assumed.
[1500, 1621]
absent
EMPTY_COMMENT
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