Abstract
After writing had been ‘invented’ in Mesopotamia, or Egypt, it diffused across the world. Did it go eastwards to India, China, and Japan? Did it go westwards to Europe and Meso-America? Or was writing invented independently in each of the world' earliest civilizations, without external influence? We don't know the answer to this question. There is evidence supporting both a single origin and multiple origins; scholars are divided on the issue. Current archaeological evidence suggests that full writing appeared in Mesopotamia and Egypt around the same time, a century or so before 3000 bc.
