Epigraphy is essential for the students of history to imbibe the content of the inscriptions as a source material.

2. Script is any particular system of writing or
the written means of human communication.
In the West, writing begins in Sumeria over
4,000 years ago and the Sumerian Epic of
Gilgamesh is a stunning example of what the
written word can produce.

3. • Cuneiform is an ancient writing system that
was first used in around 3400 BC.
Distinguished by its wedge-shaped marks on
clay tablets, cuneiform script is
the oldest form of writing in the world, first
appearing even earlier than Egyptian
hieroglyphics.

4. • A language usually refers to the spoken
language, a method of communication. A script
refers to a collection of characters used to
write one or more languages.

5. Language Script
Function Communication
Communication and
transcription
Types
Spoken, written, signed
and/or whistled.
Written
Criteria
Should have words,
phrases, idioms and a
grammar structure.
Should have individual
characters to denote the
words, phrases, idioms and
grammar of a language for
reading and writing.
Description
Languages are one of the
intricate forms of
communication out there. It
allows us to converse with
each other and share
thoughts and ideas.
Scripts are writing systems
that allow the transcription
of a language, via alphabet
sets.
Examples
English, French, Spanish
Hindi, Urdu,Tamil
Latin Script
Arabic Script

6. • Cave painting
• Graffiti
• Pictography
• Logography
• Ideography
• Syllabic Writing
• Alphabet

7. • Cave painting. Cave or rock paintings are paintings
painted on cave or rock walls and ceilings, usually
dating to prehistoric times. Rock paintings have been
made since the Upper Paleolithic, 40,000 years ago.
They have been found in Europe, Africa, Australia
and Southeast Asia.

8. • Dating back to 12,700 BC or earlier, this cave is located
in Bhopal. The paintings of this cave represent wild
animals like elephant, tiger, wild boat, bison, monkey,
rhinoceros and others. This group of cave has more
than 600 different caves, which were primarily shelters.
Red and white are the most commonly used colors in
the painting along with rare usage of green and yellow.
The oldest painting of this region is around 12,000
years older. The best part of this entire group of caves is
a ceiling painting in one of the caves. The ceiling is
quite high and the pre-historic man found a tool to raise
him up to the ceiling.

10. • Settavari is a small village, which is about 15 km west of Kilvalai near
Vettavalam in Villupuram District. The paintings are drawn on the rock
surface of natural cavern of Ayyanar hill of Settavari.
• In this painting, the drawings of animals are prominent; especially a deer and
a fish are depicted in big size. The outlines for these two figures are drawn in
red ochre while the inner portion is painted white. The figure of buffalo is
drawn completely in red. The form of another buffalo is drawn in thick ochre
while the back half is painted showing the bones and other inner organs. There
are also figures of a tiger.
• One significant scene is found in front of the deer. A small amount of flesh is
found fried in the fire with the help of long pole. This scene confirms that the
authors of these painting were well aware of eating fried flesh and fish.
• Only one human figure is found in this large scene of animals. His nose is also
in the same style of the Kilvalai man. But he is found without a dagger. On the
basis of the execution of the painting and the style of the figures one can easily
assign a date earlier than the Kilvalai paintings i.e., around 1500 BCE.

12. • Pictography is a form of writing which uses
representational, pictorial drawings, similarly
to cuneiform and, to some extent, hieroglyphic
writing, which also uses drawings as phonetic
letters or determinative rhymes. Some
pictograms, such as Hazards pictograms, are
elements of formal languages.

14. • In prehistoric art, the term "pictograph" or "pictogram" (derived
from the Latin "pictus" meaning painting, and "graph/gram"
meaning drawn or written) describes an image, sign or symbol which is
created in order to express some idea or information. In addition, note
that pictographic symbols that are cut or carved into the rock surface
are known as "petroglyphs", while those drawn or painted on rocks
are called "petrograms". A pictograph that represents one particular
idea is usually referred to as an "ideogram". The most obvious type of
Stone Age pictograph were the prehistoric abstract signs (aviforms,
circles, claviforms, cordiforms, quadrangles, tectiforms, triangles and
the like) which, experts believe, functioned as pictographs or
pictograms, in that they were intended to express some simple message.
(A good example-site is Le Placard Cave, near La Rochefoucauld.)
However, paintings of animals or hunting scenes may also have been
carefully arranged to communicate some kind of message. Pictographs
are characterized by their stereotyped execution which is standardized
at least within their group or locality. This type of pictographic rock
art served as an early forerunner of Neolithic written languages, such
as Sumerian cuneiforms (wedge-shaped symbols) and
Egyptian hieroglyphs.

15. • During the Stone Age, most artworks including
pictographs/pictograms were created inside rock shelters or deep
caves. This parietal art consisted of four main types, listed here in
order of age: abstract symbols (please see above), hand
stencils (handprints or palm-prints), rock engravings (painted or
unpainted), and cave painting (monochrome or polychrome).
This cave art was not "art for art's sake", but a means of expression
with a shamanistic, or ceremonial, or hunting function. If this is true
then all these different types of imagery qualify as pictographs. As it
happens, most of the abstract symbols are to be found around or
actually inside the paintings of animal figures, almost as if they are
providing a primitive commentary on the illustrations. Thus we may
have to consider the art "as a whole" rather than separating it into
types.

16. • In a written language, a logogram
or logograph is a written character that
represents a word or phrase. Chinese
characters (including Chinese hanzi, Japanese
kanji and Korean hanja) are logograms; some
Egyptian hieroglyphs and some graphemes in
cuneiform script are also logograms.