Ancient Egypt Writing Systems

The writing system of 3000 BC Ancient Egypt was hieroglyphics, comprised of both signs denoting sounds and signs denoting a concept. The commonly used medium was stone tablets. Around the same time, a medium other than stone tablets was emerging, namely papyrus. Applying ink to paper meant that writing now involved more swift movements, which led to the development of a cursive script called hieratic. The oldest surviving documents in hieratic on papyrus is dated 1600 BC. Around 650 BC, the number of signs denoting sounds decreased and signs denoting a concept increased dramatically with the emergence of a writing system called demotic.