writing was invented independently a number of times. the sumerian, the ancient egyptian, the chinese and the mayan writings are separate in their invention.p85 all these writing systems started with "pictographs", symbols that stood for things. then they developed a mixture of methods. our own alphabetic system is different. it is based on the sounds of spoken language. all alphabets are modified versions of the first one, which originated with the phoenicians and the ancient greeks.