The Age of Writing

After the time period of symbols and cave drawings came the age of oral communication.  Communication by word of mouth was the only way to speed news.  With the development of oral cultures came the development of humans and great civilizations.  Great civilizations that were starting in the age of oral communication truly came forth with the development of writing.  The earliest form of writing can be seen 5000 years ago and completely revolutionized the world.  The development of writing changed not only the vehicle of communication but the message as well. The message was now created by carefully selected words allowing for the message to be looked over multiple times.  Writing language eliminated the need to rely on memory because now you can simply reread.  Unlike speaking, writing is not reliant at being somewhere at the same time place to revive the message.  It can be years later and the ideals of a texts can still be understood, while years later the ideals of a message handed down orally can dramatically change.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_writing