Barron of Blog Wife, Libby, and the Pursuit of Happiness

Animated Historical Alphabet

Check out this animated image showing the evolution of our alphabet, starting from 900 BC and working it's way up to the present. To save time I'll quote:

The multistroke characters such as vanished in favor of new characters such as S and V.
...
Todays characters can be generated by a combination of horizontal vertical and diagonal lines at approximately similar angles (W,A,V,X, M, K and Y).

Not sure what the root cause behind these changes has been - efficiency, changing mediums (tablets -> scrolls -> paper -> printing), or political forces? - but it is always interesting to learn a little more about our civilization's history.

(via Digg / CoMagz)

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