There were predecessors to pencils going back hundreds of years before that, with very similar capabilities. They used soft metals that streak when dragged across a surface, particularly silver and lead (Pb) (also the etymology of "pencil lead"); and sharpened these into narrow points. The modern pencil sort of iterated on those ideas. Soft graphite powder, in a wax binder, leaves a streak superior to metals; and encasing it in wood was the solution to the graphite composite's brittleness.
My wife does silverpoint. A couple of bucks worth of fine silver wire in an old mechanical pencil, and you're set for years of drawing. Pretty much the cheapest way to do art (and it looks good, too)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverpoint
Here's a zoomable example by da Vinci (don't you agree they look awfully similar to pencil lines?)
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1860-0616-...