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Paper wasn’t actually invented till numerous millennia after the invention of writing. It’s difficult for us to imagine a world without paper, so here’s a rundown of the materials that paper replaced!
In the beginning…
The very first signs of ‘writing’, in the form of graffiti and painted hunting scenes were found on rocks and cave walls by primitive humans. There were also carvings on shells, bones and stones. These were mainly used to count things such as days, lunar months, and the number of animals they had.
Clay tablets
About 5,500 years ago, Sumerians invented writing and used clay tablets as a medium for their texts. Pictures or symbols were etched into the clay while it was still damp and soft enough. After being left to dry, the tablets could be kept along time, which made it suitable for keeping records and stock of agricultural products.
Papyrus
Just after the Sumerians, ancient Egyptians took some of their symbols and invented their own writing system making it more complicated. Used mainly for sacred and celebratory purposes, the ancient Egyptians used stony temple walls and wooden sarcophagi to either sculpt or paint these symbols onto. Their major invention was papyrus, named after the plant it was made out of, and holds some similarities to paper. Egyptians cut parts of the papyrus leaves into strips, placed them alongside eachother. Another layer of strips was then placed on top of this first layer in parallel, where the natural glues from the plant tissue acted as an adhesive for the layers. To improve the writing surface, the papyri was beat, scraped and smoothed during the production process. The Egyptians wrote on the sheets with brushes and ink.
Parchment
Unfortunately, due to political and economic crises that hit Egyptian society, papyrus production shrank, and there was a need to find a substitute for it. People began to use sheepskin as a writing medium. One skin could make several sheets as the skin layers could be separated. Firstly, the fat and flesh were scraped off the skin then hung out to dry on frames to keep them tight. This, parchment was formed. It’s was a very suitable writing medium, and was popular during he Middle Ages in Europe. Writing could be scraped off the parchment surface, allowing it to be reused again and again.
Then, paper was born!
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