Petroglyphs are rock surfaces (shown in the photo below) of which part of the surface is removed (by sculpting). Petroglyph sculptures rarely have language; generally, petroglyph sculptures are images similar to “cave paintings”.
The Rosetta Stone (shown in photo above) was inscribed with two different languages of a decree issued in 196 BC. The three languages are “Ancient Greek”; and, “Ancient Egyptian” in both “hieroglyphic” and “demotic scripts
The Rosetta Stone demarcates “Art” transition from “sculptor/painter” to “scribe/calligrapher”. Thus, the transition is from “visual” to “literary” “Art” for humanity. This transition is from “prehistory” 先史 Senshi【せんし】into “writing”.
Terrien de Lacouperie, “The Old Babylonian Characters and their Chinese Derivatives”, 1888 the topic of an earlier blog post connects the Far East with Mesopatamia.
Mesopotamia is half of the “Fertile Crescent” of the Near East with Ancient Egypt. “Rosetta Stone ロゼッタ石: The Petroglyph”, 169 BC is among oldest text.
Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt and Ancient China (as shown in the diagram below) for words: “fish”, “bird”, “ax”, “arrow”, “bottle”; may have been in linguistic contact and shared common “loan words’. The “Shang” civilization from which Modern China & Modern Japanese could have roots in the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt.
