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MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2002

Research published last week in the journal Science reports the development of the earliest known writing system in the Americas.

Florida State University anthropologist Mary E. D. Pohl and two colleagues said the Olmec civilization was responsible for creating the system around 650 B.C. It is based on pictographs and symbols they say laid the groundwork for a writing system later developed by the Mayans.

Other researchers are skeptical of the claim. They say the system that was discovered is not writing but symbolic.

Get the Story:
Mexico Find Spurs Debate on Earliest 'Writing' (The Washington Post 12/9)

Relevant Links:
Science - http://www.sciencemag.org