What Did People Use to Write Before Pencils Were Invented?

Video Transcript

"We would like to think pencils were something that are brand new and that people we can't get along without and that people couldn't write if they didn't have a pencil. But even though honor testing the number two led pencil is still a popular item, people have used all kinds of things in history to write and they are very creative in what they found to write with. In ancient times the cavemen wrote on the walls, they carved things into the walls. They used ashes and charcoal from the fires that had been built and made their mark in that way. Some people write in the dirt with a stick. Other people have used horn books in colonial times. Slate and chalk was used by our pioneer children and then they also had slate pencils which were a fore runner of our pencils today. Often times we have used the kinds of things that will make a mark and we don't care how it is. Today we have all kinds of writing utensils and ways of expressing ourselves beyond the pencil and I think that it is kind of interesting that even though the pencil has been around for a long time it will probably stay with us as well."