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h1522 (from Indus Writing Corpora)
Note: The first known examples of writing may have been unearthed at an archaeological dig in Harappa, Pakistan. So-called 'plant-like' and 'trident-shaped' markings have been found on fragments of pottery dating back 5500 years. According to Dr Richard Meadow of Harvard University, the director of the Harappa Archaeological Research Project, these primitive inscriptions found on pottery may pre-date all other known writing. http://news.bbc.co.
A rebus reading of the hieroglyph is: tagaraka, tabernae montana. Rebus: tagara ‘tin’ (Kannada); tamara id. (Skt.) Allograph: ṭagara ‘ram’. Sinc
A soft-stone flask, 6 cm. tall, from Bactria (northern Afghanistan) showing a winged female deity (?) flanked by two flowers similar to those shown on the comb from Tell Abraq.(After Pottier, M.H., 1984, Materiel funeraire e la Bactriane meridionale de l'Age du Bronze, Paris, Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations: plate 20.150). Ivory comb with Mountain Tulip motif and dotted circles. TA 1649 Tell Abraq.(D.T. Potts, South and Central Asian elements at Tell Abraq (Emirate of Umm al-Qaiwain, United Arab Emirates), c. 2200 BC—AD 400, in Asko Parpola and Petteri Koskikallio, South Asian Archaeology 1993: , pp. 615-666). 
Tell Abraq axe with epigraph (‘tulip’ glyph + a person raising his arm above his shoulder and wielding a tool + dotted circles on body) [After Fig. 7 Holly Pittman, 1984, Art of the Bronze Age: Southeastern Iran, Western Central Asia, and the Indus Valley, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 29-30].
tabar = a broad axe (Punjabi). Rebus: tam(b)ra ‘copper’ tagar
So, the race is on to find the world's oldest writing. My suggestion is that Harappan find represens the world's oldest writing system. There is evidence in of the system in Indus Writing Corpora of nearly 7000 inscriptions, presented in Indian Writing in Ancient Near East (Kalyanaraman, 2012).
Kalyanaraman
China Discovers Some Of The World's Oldest Writing
By DIDI TANG 07/10/13 12:51 PM ET EDT 
BEIJING -- Archaeologists say they have discovered some of the world's oldest known primitive writing, dating back about 5,000 years, in eastern China, and some of the markings etched on broken axes resemble a modern Chinese character.
The inscriptions on artifacts found at a relic site south of Shanghai are about 1,400 years older than the oldest written Chinese language. Chinese scholars are divided over whether the markings are words or something simpler, but they say the finding will shed light on the origins of Chinese language and culture.
The oldest writing in the world is believed to be from Mesopotamia, dating back slightly more than 5,000 years. Chinese characters are believed to have been developed independently.
Inscriptions were found on more than 200 pieces dug out from the Neolithic-era Liangzhu relic site. The pieces are among thousands of fragments of ceramic, stone, jade, wood, ivory and bone excavated from the site between 2003 and 2006, lead archaeologist Xu Xinmin said.
The inscriptions have not been reviewed by experts outside the country, but a group of Chinese scholars on archaeology and ancient writing met last weekend in Zhejiang province to discuss the finding.
They agreed that the inscriptions are not enough to indicate a developed writing system, but Xu said they include evidence of words on two broken stone-ax pieces.
One of the pieces has six word-like shapes strung together to resemble a short sentence.
"They are different from the symbols we have seen in the past on artifacts," Xu said. "The shapes and the fact that they are in a sentence-like pattern indicate they are expressions of some meaning."
The six characters are arranged in a line, and three of them resemble the modern Chinese character for human beings. Each shape has two to five strokes.
"If five to six of them are strung together like a sentence, they are no longer symbols but words," said Cao Jinyan, a scholar on ancient writing at Hangzhou-based Zhejiang University. He said the markings should be considered hieroglyphics.
He said there are also stand-alone shapes with more strokes. "If you look at the composition, you will see they are more than symbols," Cao said.
But archaeologist Liu Zhao from Shanghai-based Fudan University warned that there was not sufficient material for any conclusion.
"I don't think they should be considered writing by the strictest definition," Liu said. "We do not have enough material to pin down the stage of those markings in the history of ancient writings."
For now, the Chinese scholars have agreed to call it primitive writing, a vague term that suggests the Liangzhu markings are somewhere between symbols and words.
The oldest known Chinese writing has been found on animal bones – known as oracle bones – dating to 3,600 years ago during the Shang dynasty.rt
China discovers primitive, 5,000-year-old writing that may be among oldest in the world
The etchings on stoneware were discovered at a relic site. They are about 1,400 years older than the oldest known written Chinese language. It's also around the same age as the oldest writing in the world.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013, 11:06 AM
AP
Archaeologists say they have discovered a new form of primitive writing in markings on stoneware excavated from the relic site in eastern China dating 5,000 years back.
BEIJING — Archaeologists say they have discovered a new form of primitive writing in markings on stoneware excavated from a relic site in eastern China dating about 5,000 years back. The inscriptions are about 1,400 years older than the oldest known written Chinese language and around the same age as the oldest writing in the world.
Chinese scholars are divided on whether the etchings amount to actual writing or a precursor to words that should be described as symbols, but they say the finding will help shed light on the origins of Chinese language and culture. The oldest current known Chinese writing has been found on animal bones — known as oracle bones — dating to 3,600 years ago during the Shang dynasty.
The inscriptions have not been reviewed by experts outside of the country, but a group of Chinese scholars on archaeology and ancient writing met last weekend in Zhejiang province to discuss the finding. They agreed that the incisions — found on more than 200 pieces dug out from the Neolithic-era Liangzhu relic site south of Shanghai — are not enough to indicate any developed writing system. But lead archaeologist Xu Xinmin said they include evidence of words on two broken stone-ax pieces.
One of the pieces has six word-like shapes strung together to resemble a short sentence. The pieces are among thousands of fragments of ceramic, stone, jade, wood, ivory and bone excavated from the Liangzhu relic site between 2003 and 2006, Xu said.
"They are different from the symbols we have seen in the past on artifacts," Xu said of the markings. "The shapes and the fact that they are in a sentence-like pattern indicate they are expressions of some meaning."
The six characters are arranged in a line, and three of them resemble the modern Chinese character for human beings. Each shape has two to five strokes.
AP
Markings etched on an unearthed piece of a stone ax are seen near Zhuangqiao grave relic in eastern China’s Zhejiang province.
"If five to six of them are strung together like a sentence, they are no longer symbols but words," said Cao Jinyan, a scholar on ancient writing at Hangzhou-based Zhejiang University. He said the markings should be considered hieroglyphics.
He said there are also stand-alone shapes with more strokes. "If you look at the composition, you will see they are more than symbols," Cao said.
But archaeologist Liu Zhao from Shanghai-based Fudan University warned that there was not sufficient material for any conclusion.
"I don't think they should be considered writing by the strictest definition," Liu said. "We do not have enough material to pin down the stage of those markings in the history of ancient writings."
For now, the Chinese scholars have agreed to call them "primitive writing," a vague term that suggests the Liangzhu markings are somewhere between symbols and words.
The oldest writing in the world is believed to be from Mesopotamia, dating back more than 5,000 years. Chinese characters are believed to be an independent invention.