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I am developing a culture for a species that lives in freshwater. They are solidly stone/bone-age, so no issues with "how do you develop metallurgy underwater?" and so on, but I would like them to be able to develop writing.

Carving rock is possible, but that seems overly cumbersome to become a normal method of writing for general literacy. And ink is a non-starter. So, I am considering a system like cuneiform, intended to be pressed into soft tablets. But while clay is easy to find on a river or lake bed, clay tablets don't exactly hold together well underwater!

So, is there a natural or easy-to-make substance that could substitute to allow for underwater cuneiform? Modern oil and polymer-based sculpting clays ought to work, but would a stone-age society be able to produce something like that?

Logan R. Kearsley
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5 Answers5

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Quipu

The quipu is an ancient Inca method of storing data by essentially just tying knots in strings in specific patterns. Typically, one long string has many cords tied on to it, with knots located at varying positions along the cord. The spacing, thickness, and color (among other factors) can be used to store a variety of data. Additionally, small shells or other beads could be tied into the quipu if more symbols are desired.

Here is a picture of one:

Quipu

and here is someone holding one:

Person holding quipu

It should be noted that the Inca successfully ran an Empire on the quipu for centuries. They used these extensively for accounting and logistical purposes, using them to track taxes, census data, and plan military operations.

To read something like this, one simply starts at one end of the main cord and then follows it until you reach the first branch. Then, follow that branch down and read the spacing of the knots to decode the character/number/word before returning to the main strand and following it to the next letter.

Advantages of a system like this:

  • It's (potentially) very rugged. Unlike paper or tablets, it cant shatter or tear easily
  • It's completely waterproof
  • It's possible to read in the dark or in poor visibility because it's tactile
  • It's cheap to make and inexpensive
  • It's lightweight and portable. Long strings could even be worn as accessories
Dragongeek
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    This sounds absolutely perfect. For some quick messages you could cultivate simple algae bred for the task, and for more relevant documents real rope (maybe also out of algae fibers) could be used for quite a long durability – Hobbamok Jun 07 '21 at 12:14
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    "Long strings could even be worn as accessories" - I... think I remember years ago reading about these being woven into clothing somewhere so secret messages could be carried from place to place... The people they were trying to hide the messages from didn't know about quipu, so didn't recognize a secret message even when staring straight at it in clothing, while carried ropes might otherwise be suspicious. – Izkata Jun 07 '21 at 21:39
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Tar balls.

tar balls

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-tar-ball-questions-20150604-story.html

We see tar balls when they wash up on the beach but the ocean is full of them. A lot are floating around out at sea, and those which are denser than water sink. They can be products of natural oil seeps, like these from Los Angeles.

Tar balls stay softish. The old weathered ones can still easily be carved with a bit of shell, I will testify from personal experience. Tar balls are durable, with no natural predators. Beach tar balls stay until they are cleaned up or buried or carried back out to sea.

Your people collect tar balls. They might amalgamate several in a claylike fashion. Perhaps they have methods to age them more quickly. Maybe they back the tarballs with stones or other large flat items. The tar balls have that clay consistency you want for cuneiform and they are out there.

Willk
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    A lot of perfectly valid answers for how to write under water, but I think this one does the best job of answering the OP when specifically read as how to do "underwater cuneiform". – Nosajimiki Jun 07 '21 at 19:22
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    +1 (because I can't give you more) for the idea of using tarballs spread on a solid backing. – Corey Jun 08 '21 at 01:10
  • Isn't it extremely hard to read inscribed tar, as the actual legibility depends on the shadows the inscriptions make? – Zimano Jun 08 '21 at 09:46
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    @Zimano - if you pressed sand against the surface before you started you could have a sand colored background with dark inscriptions. Some tar balls come that way! – Willk Jun 08 '21 at 13:59
  • I see a lot of ways this will make a good resin, nothing about why it would be a good writing surface. – John Jun 09 '21 at 03:54
  • @John - in the OP it states "Modern oil and polymer-based sculpting clays ought to work" for the endeavor described which is really more like carving than writing. Tar balls are of similar consistency to sculpting clay. – Willk Jun 09 '21 at 03:59
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They could weave stripe shaped sea-weeds (like poseidonia mediterranea)

enter image description here

into a sheet like shape, and use spiral sea shells or pebbles inserted into the thread as characters. For a given sea shell the pointy end and the hole end would make two possible "bits", so they could make an elementary alphabet, similar to the cuneiform alphabet.

enter image description here

Alternatively they could still use shells or pebbles into a rope made with natural fibers, again taken from some sea weed, to make something similar to a rosary which would be read by following the line.

L.Dutch
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By living in fresh water the people are essentially lake dwellers.

Cuneiform relies on having a stick with a flat end making an impression into a soft material such as clay. As you state, this is not practical for an underwater environment. You might be better off considering runes being scratched onto large flat shells.

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Bamboo or wooden strips

Bamboo or wood falls into water, where it might be pried into strips. It can be incised with small sharp stones. Wood might be buried in sediments which (maybe) would tend to blacken the wood. If carved afterward, the text might be much lighter; alternatively it is possible that the carved areas would blacken more than the wood split only along the grain. The strips can then be bound together with a cord after the fashion of traditional Chinese wooden books.

Mike Serfas
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