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
281
(Hmong - Late Qing)
Full Year Range of Hmong - Late Qing is assumed.
[1701, 1895]
absent
None
282
(Cahokia - Lohman-Stirling)
Full Year Range of Cahokia - Lohman-Stirling is assumed.
[1050, 1199]
absent
None
283
(Cahokia - Moorehead)
Full Year Range of Cahokia - Moorehead is assumed.
[1200, 1275]
absent
None
284
(Kingdom of Norway II)
Full Year Range of Kingdom of Norway II is assumed.
[1262, 1396]
present
None
285
(Egypt - Dynasty II)
Full Year Range of Egypt - Dynasty II is assumed.
[-2900, -2687]
present
None
286
(Jin)
Full Year Range of Jin is assumed.
[-780, -404]
present
None
287
(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]
288
(Egypt - New Kingdom Ramesside Period)
Full Year Range of Egypt - New Kingdom Ramesside Period is assumed.
[-1293, -1070]
present
None
289
(Egypt - New Kingdom Thutmosid Period)
Full Year Range of Egypt - New Kingdom Thutmosid Period is assumed.
[-1550, -1293]
present
None
290
(Northern Maravi Kingdom)
Full Year Range of Northern Maravi Kingdom is assumed.
[1500, 1621]
absent
EMPTY_COMMENT
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