We practically every day use CD-disks, flash drives, and paper, but have no idea that these media has its own history.Moreover, their appearance was preceded by other methods of storing and transmitting messages, examples of which can now be found, perhaps, only in museums.Ancient media improved in the development of human skills.Each of the new species was somewhat easier and more efficient the previous one.Today the media from the stems of reeds, ancient parchments or clay tablets tell scientists a lot about life in the distant past.Some of them are far ahead of modern analogues for the duration of the storage of information.
In the shadows of the caves
first media celebrity scientist - a wall image.They meet in caves in different parts of the world.Initially, the application probably used color formulations.Over time, it was seen the fragility of these figures, and as a weapon were used sharp stones.They scratched on the walls of the petroglyphs (the name is derived from the Greek words "rock" and "thread").The main subjects of rock art - is hunting, animals, genre scenes.Today, it remains unclear purpose of the drawings.Speak version that they were religious in nature or created to decorate the home and may have been a way to transmit information tribesmen.
most ancient examples of rock art have a very long history.Archaeologists believe that they were created more than forty thousand years ago.
Clay
evolution of media was on the way research materials, easy to use and able to simultaneously save the message as much as possible on a longer term.In place of petroglyphs and rock art came clay tablets.Their appearance is connected with the birth of writing in Egypt and Mesopotamia.What were these media?Table consisted of plates coated with a thin layer of clay.To mark the symbols used stone or wooden sticks.They wrote on wet clay, and then the plate was dried.Next to it you can do one of two ways: either to leave and if necessary erase the inscription, moisten it with water or bake.In the latter case the information is stored for a long time, before the destruction of the carrier.The remains of such tablets archaeologists discover the present day.This is a very valuable findings that can tell a lot about how our ancestors lived.
There are also clay tablets with cuneiform writing, first appeared on the territory of ancient Sumer in the third millennium BC.Many people used this type of information carrier until the appearance of the paper.
Wax
In ancient Rome, were in the course of wax tablets.They were made of boxwood, beech wood or bone, and had a special recess for paraffin.On wax writing with a stylus, sharpened metal rod.Such signs could easily be re-used: the signs easily erased.Unfortunately, the temperature conditions are not allowed to keep most of the recordings on such media.However, some samples have come to the present day.One of them - polyptych (a few leather straps fastened with wax tablets) containing Novgorod Codex found in the territory of the ancient town.
carrier information from cane stalks
have all kinds of tablets, as well as the wooden book was one drawback - they weigh a lot.It is not surprising, therefore, that the further development of methods of storage and transmission of information has gone the way of the search easier basics.The solution devised Egyptians.In the second half of the third millennium BC, they came up with media from cane stalks.It was papyrus, which are made from the same plant.While this relative of sedge was distributed in the Nile Delta.Today, wild species of papyrus almost gone.
technology
information carrier from the stems of reeds created in several stages.First, plant debarked, and its core was cut into thin strips.Then, on a flat surface they laid a dense layer.Thereafter, part of the strips was placed on top of the decomposed at a right angle.All covered with a flat stone, and after some time left in the sun.When a sheet is sufficiently dry them, he fought off hammer and flattened.
papyri are often connected to each other, they stick together.It gets pretty long ribbons, which were stored in the form of scrolls.The first papyrus was called "protokolon."Face of the scroll is the one where the fibers were horizontal.
Reusable
Papyrus, whose photos can be seen at any site on the history of Egypt, is often used more than once.When the information is contained on the front side, it becomes irrelevant or simply unnecessary entries filled turnover.Often there housed various literary works.Sometimes it becomes unnecessary text from the front washed away.
on papyrus in ancient Egypt and placed the sacred texts and the records pertaining to the daily household chores.Media information from reed stems, apparently, he came here at the same time with the birth of writing, in the predynastic era.Often found on the pages of scrolls can be found images.
Found
Papyri - not the most reliable custodian.To preserve them unchanged only under certain conditions, so the museum can be seen placed in a sealed glass box within which the necessary temperature and humidity.Papyri used throughout Greece and Rome, however, have survived only copies stored in Egypt, the country's climate is having on the fragile support material is less devastating effect.
Due to the special conditions in the Nile Valley, archaeologists and historians were able to get acquainted with the "Constitution of the Athenians" Aristotle, a Latin poem "Alcestis Barcelona", some of the works of Menander and Philodemos Gadarskogo.Scrolls with these samples of ancient literature have been found in Egypt.
end of an era of evolution, which held the ancient media, did not stand still.The papyri were widely used in the East up to the VIII century BC.However, in Europe in the early Middle Ages it was replaced by media from animal skin.It contributed to this as a short shelf life of papyrus (it was kept not more than 200 years), and reducing the number of plants in Egypt.
animal skins as a custodian
parchment appeared in the V century.BC.e.in Persia.From there he was in ancient Greece, where he became a rather active with the II century BC.It was at this time, Egypt has banned the export of papyrus from the country.Such a decision would lead to the exaltation of the Library of Alexandria in comparison with located in Pergamum in Asia Minor.Then the Greeks and Persians remembered their invention, improved technology and started using the new material.In this regard, media from animal skin and has been called "parchment".In Greece, for its production used specially treated skins of sheep and goats.
Paper era
Parchment was used as the main writing material until the inception of printing.And then for a while animal skins used in parallel with the paper.However, the complexity of the production of parchment led gradually to abandon it in favor of new media.
Paper, according to Chinese annals, was invented in the early second century AD, Cai Lun.Archaeological excavations, however, indicate an earlier origin of this material (about II century BC).Cai Lun, according to modern concepts, improved technology, the paper made cheaper and more durable.The manufacturing process of writing material are then finalized: the main raw materials (rags, ash, hemp) began to add glue, starch and colorants.In general, however, the composition of the modern paper is not very different from the original.
in XI-XII centuries the new media came to Europe and drove the parchment.With the development of printing paper production has been greatly increased.Further transformation of the data carrier to a greater extent was due to the improvement of production methods, the gradual transition from manual to mechanized manufacturing.
Today paper slowly supplanted by digital and electronic counterparts.The main characteristic of media in our time - the amount of memory.Paper is gradually losing its relevance, although still made in large numbers.Parchment and papyrus, photos are easily found on the Internet, have become thing of the past, though first used by artists today.The history of media illustrates the desire of humanity to progress, and sometimes even the most usual attributes of life.
