It depends on how you define 'olden days'. Many of those who are part of today's younger digital age could refer to the olden days as anything prior to the introduction of text/SMS messaging via your mobile phone or the advent of the computer and email messaging system. If we consider the olden days as the time before the introduction of the telephone then communication and correspondence were very different to the forms we use today:
• Cave, or rock, paintings were used in prehistoric times and some, such as those found at Chauvet in France, can be dated back to 30000BC. Although, the precise nature of these drawings is not known historians believe that they may have been an early form of communication.
• Smoke signals, although mostly associated with the Native American tribes of North America, were used as far back as 2100BC in ancient China. Soldiers holding guard on the Great Wall were able to inform their comrades of a forthcoming attack. By passing on the message they could send a signal as far as 750 kilometres in just a few hours.
• Messengers were used in ancient times to deliver important communications from A to B, either by foot or on horseback. Some marathons that run today trace the route taken by these early couriers.
• Carrier pigeons have also been used to transfer physical messages from place to place. These birds were used to great effect during World War I and World War II, 32 of which earned the Dickin Medal for bravery - often referred to as the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross.
• Electrical telegraphy, such as Morse code, was used to send messages across America during the 1800s. By 1861 the messages, a series of deciphered sonic beeps and dashes, could be sent from coast-to-coast.
• Cave, or rock, paintings were used in prehistoric times and some, such as those found at Chauvet in France, can be dated back to 30000BC. Although, the precise nature of these drawings is not known historians believe that they may have been an early form of communication.
• Smoke signals, although mostly associated with the Native American tribes of North America, were used as far back as 2100BC in ancient China. Soldiers holding guard on the Great Wall were able to inform their comrades of a forthcoming attack. By passing on the message they could send a signal as far as 750 kilometres in just a few hours.
• Messengers were used in ancient times to deliver important communications from A to B, either by foot or on horseback. Some marathons that run today trace the route taken by these early couriers.
• Carrier pigeons have also been used to transfer physical messages from place to place. These birds were used to great effect during World War I and World War II, 32 of which earned the Dickin Medal for bravery - often referred to as the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross.
• Electrical telegraphy, such as Morse code, was used to send messages across America during the 1800s. By 1861 the messages, a series of deciphered sonic beeps and dashes, could be sent from coast-to-coast.
