USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Olmec may have been the first civilization in the Western Hemisphere to develop a writing system. Symbols found in 2002 and 2006 date from 650 BCE and 900 BCE respectively, preceding the oldest Zapotec writing found so far, which dates from about 500 BCE.

Detailed explanation-2: -Several clues have long suggested that the Olmec civilization, which flourished from 1200 B.C. to 400 B.C., was the first to develop cultural traditions, including writing, later adopted by the Maya, who reigned from about A.D. 300 to 900.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Olmecs of southern Mexico are America’s oldest civilization and Mesoamerica’s “Mother Culture.” Famous for their Colossal Heads carved from giant boulders, the Olmecs have fascinated the public and archaeologists since the 1940s when National Geographic magazine reported the initial explorations of their centers.

Detailed explanation-4: -Epi-Olmec hieroglyphic writing, like Mayan and Zapotec writing, made use of two basic types of signs: phonetic signs, which represent sounds, and logograms, which represent lexical items and other meaningful units of the language.

Detailed explanation-5: -The writings are estimated to date from 650 B.C. A heap of debris taken from a quarry in Veracruz, Mexico has yielded a stone block inscribed with what appears to be the oldest writing ever found in the Americas. Numerous symbols are carved across the block in rows.