Rock inscriptions—Marks on wood—Quipus—Wampum—Modern ideographs—Indian palm leaf books—Ideographs and alphabets—Diptychs.
The idea of making records by means of marks cut on stone or wood did not originate in any one place, for signs of it are found more or less all over the world wherever primitive man has existed. It was not until a comparatively late period that the various kinds of record keeping were unified after a fashion and true writing evolved itself out of the chaos.
There are some forms of record keeping that have been largely used by the human race which, as far as we can at present tell, have not influenced our present form of book except negatively; but indirectly they may still have done so in some manner that we cannot distinguish.
Mankind is naturally imitative, and among his early efforts in this direction are the scratchings on bones and antlers. They comprise outlines of deer, mammoths, reindeer, seals, bears, horses and other animals. Several instances of these early drawings have been found in the caves of the Dordogne in France. These, however, are not records, they are only pictures of what the artist saw, and a large proportion of rock and stone markings come into the same category. But there is no doubt that many of the latter are intended to commemorate certain events; they show groupings of marks, animals and men in positions and attitudes which are clearly intended to mean something, and now and then it has been possible to make a good guess at their interpretation.
The earliest marks made by man that still exist are to be found among the rock markings or carvings, as these are often in protected places where the weather has not worn them away. Prehistoric caves and tombs are prolific in such treasures, and the marks, ideographs or hieroglyphics are always of the greatest interest. There seems to be some analogy between the great megalithic temples like that on Salisbury Plain and many of the rock inscriptions, but little is at present known on this point.
Cup and ring markings on rocks or stones are among the most remarkable of rock inscriptions because they are not isolated as to their design. From Ireland to India these marks are found possessing the same radical forms, and it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that they have been made by tribes of men who had some thought or idea in common. What this idea was is still a disputed point among archæologists.
Cup and ring markings are held by some authorities to be astronomical, sun signs, but these speculations, especially in Scandinavian examples, soon land us in pure symbolism, ring crosses, swastikas, triskeles and the rest.
Apart from these, marks are found in the British Isles and in India particularly through which a dominant idea is clearly present. It seems likely that some common religious symbolism is really the key to the mystery, and this belief, disavowed by Sir J. Simpson, is strongly held by Col. J. H. Rivett-Carnac, as well as by many others. By these archæologists the cup and ring markings are considered to be the ideographic expressions of one of the primitive religions of the world which was very widely spread, and the remains of which exist in India at the present day.
