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When did ancient Egyptians begin using writing?

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Side view of the Sphinx with the Great Pyramid of Khufu rising behind it on the Giza Plateau near Cairo, Egypt. — ancient Egypt Side view of the Sphinx with the Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) rising in the background, Giza, Egypt.

Ancient Egyptians began using writing toward the end of the 4th millennium BCE. The earliest known hieroglyphs consist of annotations incised onto ivory plaques and pottery jars found in tombs, which were likely used for identification purposes.1

While these early signs cannot all be read today, they appear to be based on the same phonetic system as later classical hieroglyphs, meaning the script functioned as phonetic symbols from its inception. By the 1st dynasty (c. 2925–c. 2775 BCE), writing was applied to monumental contexts to identify royal individuals and specific historical events, such as battles. During this period, writing also began to appear on cylinder seals to designate the contents and officials responsible for sealed jars. Although the earliest surviving evidence comes from tomb deposits, the discovery of a blank papyrus scroll in a high official's grave suggests that longer texts may have been written as early as the beginning of the 1st dynasty.12