Like the wheel, having a written language allowed humans to more easily exchange goods and ideas. With the invention of writing, people could now keep records of transactions, their religious beliefs, calendars, laws, wars, etc., and then share these records with others near and far. Therefore, we can study these documents to learn more about them and their history instead of blindly guessing the meaning of the artifacts they left behind. For example, European scholars' ideas about the ancient Egyptians changed significantly when the Rosetta Stone was discovered and deciphered, because previously they had relied primarily on artifacts to piece together their history. Written language has been recognized throughout time for its importance since its discovery. The scribes of ancient cultures such as Sumerian and Ancient Egyptian were highly revered, and it is today accepted among scholars that having a written language is one of the six characteristics of a civilization. Written language also contributes to the development of culture, because without it we would not have literature and things like Beethoven's symphonies or Shakespeare's plays would have died with them because there would have been a way to preserve them. Written forms of communication are also an integral part of our society at this point. Everything from our education system to our government depends on the ability to