9 October 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Rare African Script Offers Clues to the Evolution of Writing Systems

The world’s very first invention of writing took place over 5000 years ago in the Middle East, before it was reinvented in China and Central America. Today, almost all human activities—from education to political systems and computer code—rely on this technology.

But despite its impact on daily life, we know little about how writing evolved in its earliest years. With so few sites of origin, the first traces of writing are fragmentary or missing altogether.

In a study just published in Current Anthropology, a team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany, showed that writing very quickly becomes ‘compressed’ for efficient reading and writing.

To arrive at this insight they turned to a rare African writing system that has fascinated outsiders since the early 19th century.

The first page of Vai manuscript MS17817 from the British Library [Photo: The British Library]

“The Vai script of Liberia was created from scratch in about 1834 by eight completely illiterate men who wrote in ink made from crushed berries,” says lead author Dr. Piers Kelly, now at the University of New England, Australia. The Vai language had never before been written down.



📣 Our WhatsApp channel is now LIVE! Stay up-to-date with the latest news and updates, just click here to follow us on WhatsApp and never miss a thing!!



According to Vai teacher Bai Leesor Sherman, the script was always taught informally from a literate teacher to a single apprentice student. It remains so successful that today it is even used to communicate pandemic health messages.

“Because of its isolation, and the way it has continued to develop up until the present day, we thought it might tell us something important about how writing evolves over short spaces of time,” says Kelly.

“There’s a famous hypothesis that letters evolve from pictures to abstract signs. But there are also plenty of abstract letter-shapes in early writing. We predicted, instead, that signs will start off as relatively complex and then become simpler across new generations of writers and readers.”

The transformation of indigenous symbols into Vai letters [Credit: Momolu Massaquoi (1911)]
The transformation of indigenous symbols into Vai letters. © Momolu Massaquoi (1911). Public Domain

The team scrutinized manuscripts in the Vai language from archives in Liberia, the United States, and Europe. By analyzing year-by-year changes in its 200 syllabic letters, they traced the entire evolutionary history of the script from 1834 onwards. Applying computational tools for measuring visual complexity, they found that the letters really did become visually simpler with each passing year.

“The original inventors were inspired by dreams to design individual signs for each syllable of their language. One represents a pregnant woman, another is a chained slave, others are taken from traditional emblems. When these signs were applied to writing spoken syllables, then taught to new people, they became simpler, more systematic, and more similar to one another,” says Kelly.

This pattern of simplification can be observed over much longer time scales for ancient writing systems as well.

“Visual complexity is helpful if you’re creating a new writing system. You generate more clues and greater contrasts between signs, which helps illiterate learners. This complexity later gets in the way of efficient reading and reproduction, so it fades away,” says Kelly.

Elsewhere in West Africa, illiterate inventors reverse-engineered writing for languages spoken in Mali and Cameroon, while new writing systems are still being invented in Nigeria and Senegal. In response to the study, Nigerian philosopher Henry Ibekwe commented: “African indigenous scripts remain a vast, untapped repository of semiotic and symbolic information. Many questions remain to be asked.”

Source: Max-Planck Institute

Related Articles

White grape pips found in the Negev dated may be the oldest of its kind worldwide

29 April 2023

29 April 2023

Researchers from the University of York, Tel Aviv University, and the University of Copenhagen provide new insight into the mystery...

1-meter tall bronze statue found in China’s Sanxingdui Ruins-Video

17 June 2022

17 June 2022

Chinese archaeologists have discovered a 1-meter tall bronze statue at the site of ancient Sanxingdui ruins site in southwest China’s...

Archaeologists Uncover Asini’s Hidden Ancient Port Beneath the Waves of Greece

11 March 2025

11 March 2025

An international team of underwater archaeologists has made a groundbreaking discovery at the submerged site of Asini, near Tolo in...

Archaeologists find the largest bronze beast of Sanxingdui ruins

4 September 2022

4 September 2022

The largest and only one of its kind discovered in China to date, the bronze beast was discovered by archaeologists...

Marmore, the Highest and Oldest Artificial Waterfall in Europe, Created by the Romans

4 March 2024

4 March 2024

Approximately eight kilometers away from the town of Terni in Umbria, Italy, there is a waterfall that is one of...

A Batavian Cavalry Mask was found on the Battlefield of Roman Comrades

22 July 2022

22 July 2022

Archaeologists have discovered that a rusty corroded plate they found 4 years ago at an old battlefield in the city...

Gold from the ancient cities of Troy, Poliochni, and Ur had the same Origin

3 December 2022

3 December 2022

Using an innovative mobile laser method, scientists determined that gold found in ancient Troy, Poliochini, and Ur had the same...

Researchers reveal the 4,500-year-old network of funerary avenues in Arabian Peninsula

15 January 2022

15 January 2022

Archaeologists from the University of Western Australia (UWA) have determined that people living in ancient northwest Arabia built long-distance “funerary...

Archaeologists discover medieval a tableman gaming piece in Bedfordshire, England

26 April 2023

26 April 2023

Archaeologists in Bedfordshire, England, have made an intriguing discovery: a tableman gaming piece was discovered at a medieval site. Cotswold...

Ceremonial meals may have been served in the 4500-year-old structure unearthed in the Yumuktepe Höyük in Southern Turkey

3 November 2021

3 November 2021

A 4,500-year-old structure containing a jar, many pots, and food fossils has been unearthed at the Yumuktepe Höyük (mound) in...

Egyptian mission discovered five ancient water wells in North Sinai

1 March 2022

1 March 2022

A team of Egyptian archeologists working in the Tell El Kedwa discovered five ancient wells which are believed to be...

Britain’s Largest Iron Age Gold Coin Hoard: A Possible Tribute to Julius Caesar?

16 May 2025

16 May 2025

In a stunning revelation, British authorities have recently announced the discovery of an unparalleled Iron Age coin hoard, a singular...

Ancient city site unearthed in Central China produces fortune-telling relics

8 February 2024

8 February 2024

Bone slips used for “fortune-telling activities” and “ancient sacrificial ceremonies” were unearthed during excavations at an archaeological site in Puyang,...

“If this site (Sharda temple)is restored and conserved, it will attract thousands of Hindus and Buddhists from Kashmir and the rest of the world”

7 August 2021

7 August 2021

Sharda Peeth, a historic learning institution located 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Muzaffarabad, the capital and largest city of Pakistan-administered...

Ancient Hittite Archives Unearthed at Kayalıpınar: 56 Cuneiform Tablets and 22 Seal Impressions Found

18 September 2025

18 September 2025

Archaeologists excavating the ancient Hittite city of Kayalıpınar (ancient Šamuḫa) in Sivas province have uncovered a remarkable collection of 56...