What is a nodular letter?

The appearance of writing is an important milestone in the development of mankind, along with oral speech. Cuneiform, hieroglyphs and, of course, a nodular letter gave people an amazing opportunity to exchange important information, store it, transmit it from generation to generation, accumulating a grandiose experience. Node The letter is the main theme of this narrative. It is one of the oldest forms of writing, the echoes of which can still be found in our everyday speech.

The Uzel letter was known practically on all continents. It was used in ancient China, in territories inhabited by the first tribes of the Slavs, and on the American continent. At the heart of this type of information transfer is knitting knots of different shapes, each of which corresponded to a particular word or action. It was a whole system of vivid images capable of describing very complex pictures of everyday life or historical events. To consider a nodular letter as a written language is probably not quite right. It was more a way to capture information and pass it on to others. The principles of this letter were quite simple: knots of a certain shape were tied on ropes of different colors and lengths. Some served to count people, food or warriors, others indicated the status or importance of the message. Cords of different colors could serve as a designation for a particular object (for example, a potato or a horse) or were designed to draw attention to the special status of information. Until now, we use such an expression as "it is a red thread". It was the red color that spoke about the special importance of the data.

The mayal letter of the Maya, for example, as many scholars of ancient cultures believe, Had a sacred meaning and was used only by the priests. There are hypotheses that it was the progenitor of pictograms that we can see on the famous calendar of a great civilization. However, the true meaning of all its symbols is still unsolved, as there is no exact information about the fact that the nodular letter was quite widespread in this territory. A similar history of this writing can be traced in other peoples of North America. The Aztec Uzel letter probably did not enjoy popularity among the people, or was not used at all.

In ancient China it was used in the cult of the emperor and was considered the art of religious priests. Today, flowery knots - congratulations - can be seen on festive decorations from the Middle Kingdom. A certain amount of information is only about the "kip". This is how they called the nodular letter of the Incas, which it received Sufficient distribution among representatives of this civilization. Slavs nodding letter, like a pile, allowed to conduct complex calculations, and over time they turned into a set of symbols, which bore a special "oberezhny" meaning. That is why the Slavic warriors tied knots - nauzas - on their weapons, firmly believing that they could bring them victory in battle. Even modern man has kept the tradition of tie a knot "for memory". We do not cease to look for the "thread of conversation" and delve into the "intricacies of the plot."