The signs used for formal inscriptions in ancient Egypt. They were devised in about 3000 bc and were used, mainly for religious and monumental purposes, until the late 3rd century ad. They were representational in design, and were held to have near-magic powers. For practical purposes the structure of the script, as well as its form, was much too clumsy, and even cursive or ‘long-hand’ versions, the hieratic and demotic scripts, required long professional training to learn. Hieroglyphs have played an important part of archaeological research (Rosetta stone), extending written history by 2000 years beyond classical times. The term has been applied more loosely to other complicated but ornamental scripts used by the Minoan civilization, the Hittites, and the Maya. See also writing.