[marktwain]

Civilization is also from the same root as cities.

No cities, no civilization.

[SunkenCiv]

What marktwain said -- civilization means the building of cities; the difficulties continue as people argue/discuss what constitutes a city.

In the Nile Valley there's a 15,000 year old site that was a very large settlement. It was apparently attacked and burned to the ground, and the terminal ash layer was filled with thousands of arrowheads and spearheads, showing the population must have been pretty large. There's no writing AFAIK.

The Sumerian cuneiform writing system arose by 3200 BC and was adapted for Akkadian (Old Assyrian), and later for other spoken languages and diplomatic communication, not falling out of use until the 1st c AD. Alphabetic script as a concept isn't quite that long lived.

Interestingly, tantalizingly, there's a full set or alphabet of "runic" script characters found among the ice age cave paintings, almost as if the artists were signing their work. It's ridiculously unlikely that, even if truly a script, it will ever be deciphered.

Thanks BenLurkin for the ping.