Author: Larson, Bentley

The Evolution of Storytelling/Writing
Humans (Speaking Ability/Imagination)
Oral Storytelling (Early myths and legends) - Tribes
Involved Chants/Songs/Dance/Music/Role Play
3800 B.C.E. Prehistoric Drawings/Paintings (Pictographs) and Carvings (Petroglyphs) of Animals, People, Symbols
Logographs (Word Symbols)
Ideographs (Idea Symbols)
3500 B.C.E. Cuneiform (Sumerian Tribes from Mesopotamia - Iran/Iraq) First Primitive Phonetic (Sound) writing where pictures represented sounds. These were wedge/bone-shaped symbols on clay tablets
3000 B.C.E. Papyrus (plant) - type of paper invented by the Egyptians
2500 B.C.E. Epic of Gilgamesh was written by the Akkadians
1800 B.C.E. Hieroglyphics - a picture based writing code used in Egypt
Greek Mythology
1200 B.C.E. Phoneticians (Lebanon) invented the first alphabet based on sound (No vowels)
1100 B.C.E. Greek Alphabet (added vowels to Phonetician alphabet)
700 B.C.E. Homer’s Great Epics, The Iliad and Odyssey (although created & passed down orally since 1200 B.C.E.)
550 B.C.E. Aesop’s Fables (e.g. The Tortoise and the Hare)
200 B.C.E. Paper invented in China
100 C.E. Roman Mythology (based largely on Greek mythology)
Monks/Priests copied texts by hand
400-1500 C.E. Minstrels/Troubadours (Travelling storytellers/entertainers)
1450 C.E. Gutenberg Revolution - Johannes Gutenberg invented moveable type resulting in the Printing Press (thus allowing mass production of written materials & sparked literacy) - Actually, moveable type was invented earlier by the Chinese
Chapbooks (pamphlets of popular tales)/Posters/Newspapers/ Flyers
1500’s-1600’s C.E. William Shakespeare
Books/Magazines
1800’s Folk Literature(e.g. Grimm brothers)/Photography
Early 1900’s Silent Films
Talkies (Sound Films)
1900-50 Radio Programs (e.g. The Guiding Light, The Lone Ranger)
1920-50 Television (Programs, Advertising)
Electronic/Video Games/Virtual Reality Systems
Videocameras, Word Processing, Computers, Internet
Cell Phones, Blogging, Facebook, E-Readers, Texting, Tweeting, etc.