Painted pottery jar with characteristic zigzag pattern. Pre-Dynastic period, Naqada II from El Adaima, excavated by Henri de Morgan in 1907.

Writing first appeared in Egypt around 3200 BC and it thought that this could have been influenced from Asia. However, inscribed objects such from Abydos cold pre-date this indicating that writing developed independently. Many signs in writing developed from decoration, such as the zigzag lines becoming the characters for water.