Archaeology & History

Archaeologists discover the world's oldest known alphabet in Syria

By T.K. Randall
November 25, 2024 ·  6 comments

One of the clay cylinders. Image Credit: Glenn Schwartz, Johns Hopkins University The advent of writing was one of the most important developments in human history, enabling discoveries, facts and ideas to be recorded and passed down from one generation to the next.

Now researchers believe that they have identified the oldest known scrap of alphabetic writing ever found in the form of markings inscribed on small clay cylinders that had previously been unearthed in a tomb in Tell Umm el-Marra - an ancient city situated between Aleppo and the Euphrates River.

Alphabetic writing is distinctly different to other, older forms of writing such as Egyptian hieroglyphs and Mesopotamian cuneiform which typically have hundreds of symbols often representing entire words.

Until now, it was thought that the first alphabet was developed sometime around 1,900 BC, but now this latest discovery pushes this date back by several centuries.It also indicates that ancient Syria, rather than Egypt, was the first to see the use of alphabetic writing.

"It changes the entire narrative of how the alphabet was introduced," said archaeologist Glenn Schwartz of Johns Hopkins University.

The clay cylinders themselves were discovered back in 2004, but it wasn't until relatively recently that their significance was fully realized.

It is now hoped that additional examples of this ancient writing system will soon be found.

Source: Scientific American | Comments (6)

Tags: Alphabet, Language