Archaeologists have uncovered the oldest alphabetic writing ever recorded from a tomb in Syria.
Etched onto finger-length clay cylinders is writing that has been dated to around 2400BC - 500 years before any other previously known alphabetic scripts.
The writing could denote names or descriptions of property, according to Glenn Schwartz, a professor of archaeology at John Hopkins University, who discovered the clay cylinders.
However, the researchers in Baltimore, Maryland “can only speculate” exactly what the script says.
Archaeologists have uncovered the oldest alphabetic writing ever recorded from a tomb in Syria
John Hopkins University
The cylinders were uncovered during excavations of a tomb at Tell Umm-el Marra - one of the ancient cities of the Middle East.
“The cylinders were perforated, so I'm imagining a string tethering them to another object to act as a label. Maybe they detail the contents of a vessel, or maybe where the vessel came from, or who it belonged to,” he said.
Schwarz co-led a 16-year-long archaeological dig at the tomb with colleagues at the University of Amsterdam.
“Previously, scholars thought the alphabet was invented in or around Egypt sometime after 1900 BCE,” he said.
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The writing could denote names or descriptions of property
John Hopkins University
“But our artefacts are older and from a different area on the map, suggesting the alphabet may have an entirely different origin story than we thought.”
Prior to the alphabet, humans relied on hieroglyphics, according to Schwarz.
“Alphabetic writing changed the way people lived, how they thought, how they communicated,” he said.
“This new discovery shows people were experimenting with new communication technologies much earlier and in a different location than we had imagined.”
The cylinders were uncovered during excavations of a tomb at Tell Umm-el Marra
John Hopkins University
At Tell Umm-el Marra, archaeologists previously uncovered tombs dating to the Early Bronze Age between 3500 and 2000BC.
Inside one of the tombs were six skeletons, gold and silver jewellery, intact pottery, cookware, and a spearhead.
The recent findings will be presented at the annual meeting of American Society of Overseas Research
