What was used before letter writing?

Communication forms that preceded letter writing included:

• hired emissaries
• smoke signals
• jungle drums
• posted pronouncements (carved or drawn)
• banners and flags

Even where written language was developed, other forms continued to be used. History was still passed down through songs, rituals, and oral traditions. When public information was disseminated, it was often done in a central location rather than to the individual citizens.

In the US, Native Americans used various totems and markings between tribes to signal their intent. Early messaging techniques were later mirrored by itinerants and hobos, and by spies during war, using drawn symbols to pass information to their peers. These types of secret or inconspicuous markings were also used during pre-Civil War slavery in the South for a different kind of railroad: the "underground railroad" of sympathizers who helped escaped slaves make it to freedom in the North.