How does writing shape what we can know about the past, and how did writing develop to meet the needs of cities and states?

The remains of buildings, burial sites, weapons, tools, artwork, and other handmade objects provide our only evidence of how people lived, thought, felt, and died during most of the human past. Beginning about 5,000 years ago, however, people in some parts of the world developed a new technology, writing, the surviving examples of which have provided a much wider range of information. Writing developed to meet the needs of more complex urban societies that are often referred to as “civilizations.” In particular, writing met the needs of the state, a new political form that developed during the time covered in this chapter.