The Rosetta Stone was the turning point of all discoveries for hieroglyphics. It has three types of writing on it: hieroglyphics, demotic, and Greek. It is made out of black basalt. A Frenchman named Jean Francois Champollion was the first modern day man to read hieroglyphics. There are 24 phonograms (symbols) in the alphabet. All together there are several hundred picture signs. Hieroglyphics means sacred symbols. Around 3000 B.C. hieroglyphics were first written. They were mostly written on tombs and columns.
Bibliography
Hieroglyphics, Rosetta Stone. Information on Rosetta Stone. December 6 2000. <http://tqjunior.thinkquest.org/4368/hieroglyphs.html>.
Hieroglyphics. Picture of Tablet. December 6 2000. <http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/prehistory/egypt/dailylife/dailylife.html>.
A Short History of Hieroglyphics. December 6 2000. <http://webperso.iut.univ-paris8.fr/~rosmord/Intro/node2.html#SECTION000200000000000000>.