Archaeologists Discover Earliest-Known Alphabetic Writing

Nov 21, 2024 by News Staff

Dated to around 2400 BCE, the writing precedes other known alphabetic scripts by roughly 500 years, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Professor Glenn Schwartz.



The 4,400-year-old clay object discovered at the ancient city of Umm el-Marra, Syria; the engraved symbols may be part of the earliest known alphabet. Image credit: Glenn Schwartz, Johns Hopkins University.


“Alphabets revolutionized writing by making it accessible to people beyond royalty and the socially elite. Alphabetic writing changed the way people lived, how they thought, how they communicated,” Professor Schwartz said. “And this new discovery shows that people were experimenting with new communication technologies much earlier and in a different location than we had imagined before now.”



The alphabetic writing is etched onto finger-length, clay cylinders excavated at Tell Umm-el Marra, one of the first medium-size urban centers that popped up in western Syria.

At Umm-el Marra, the archaeologists uncovered tombs dating back to the Early Bronze Age.

One of the best-preserved tombs contained six skeletons, gold and silver jewelry, cookware, a spearhead, and intact pottery vessels.

Next to the pottery, the researchers found four lightly baked clay cylinders with what seems to be alphabetic writing on them.

More:
https://www.sci.news/archaeology/earliest-known-alphabetic-writing-13445.html