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'Oldest' New World writing found Ancient civilisations in Mexico developed a writing system as early as 2,000 years ago, new evidence suggests suggests. The discovery in the state of Veracruz of a block inscribed with symbolic shapes has astounded anthropologists. Researchers tell Science magazine that they consider it to be the oldest example of writing in the New World. The inscriptions are thought to have been made by the Olmecs, an ancient pre-Columbian people known for creating large statues of heads. The finding suggests that New World people developed writing some 400 years before their contemporaries in the Western hemisphere. Co-author Stephen Houston of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, US, said it was a "tantalising discovery". "I think it could be the beginning of a new era of focus on Olmec civilisation," he said. More.....