Speaking for ancient egypt, they actually made ink from a number of materials and, though more expensive, even were able to produce different colors.

Writing was done with different materials, for instance pens carved from reed plants. Like this: https://d18xwelq3wp3pf.cloudfront.net/community/blogosphere/wp-content/uploads/Rachel/Image_3.jpg

Basically, aslong as you have ink and are creative you can use anything as a pencil.