Wikipedia wrote:Nsibidi is said to date back between 4000 and 5000 BC[1] or at least as old as the Ikom monoliths which date back to AD 170
That [1] links to:
http://books.google.com/books?id=jIqKJX0BUx4C&pg=PA98Which is a book about a justice system using traditional social customs. Not an archeology book, not a history book nor even a museum reference. If the Wikipedia article said 1-2k BC Id have accepted it and moved on, but claiming 4-5k BC seems to me as a rather huge piece of history, and that needs a source more reliable then what is given. This leads me to believe its mythical history stemming from old Christian tales including the morality ones and that of the Earth being ~6000 years old. Given the Christian heritage of the region and that the source is a book about society and justive (just like religions), I think its wacky Chirstian tales being absorbed and transformed into a mythical history for the written language.
A native 2k year old written language, autonomously creates or not, is an impressive feat most peoples cannot claim. If the 4-5k old age claim is false then its quite the big lie, in which case the rest of the story becomes heavily suspect and a potentially impressive piece of history becomes dismissed as propaganda because of that taint.
Jaded centrist. Wary Cautious liberal. Obligated Engineer(Civil).
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