During a 16-year archaeological excavation at Tell Umm-el Marra, researchers from Johns Hopkins University uncovered four clay cylinders featuring what appears to be the first alphabetic writing in history.
Glenn Schwartz/Johns Hopkins UniversityOne of the finger-sized clay cylinders etched with an untranslated alphabetic script.
At the annual meeting of the American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR), a team of archaeologists led by Johns Hopkins University’s Glenn Schwartz presented the remarkable results of their 16-year excavation project at Tell Umm-el Marra in Syria.
Research at the site yielded numerous fascinating finds, but none stood out more than the discovery of several finger-length clay cylinders etched with alphabetic inscriptions that have been dated to 2400 B.C.E. Based on this dating, these cylinders precede other known alphabetic scripts by 500 years, meaning they are now the oldest known example of alphabetic writing in human history.
This discovery fundamentally upends experts’ understanding of how alphabets evolved and spread between societies.
The Discovery Of The World’s First Known Alphabetic Writing
Dr. Glenn Schwartz and his team first began excavating at Tell Umm-el Marra back in 1994. As one of the first medium-sized ancient urban centers in western Syria, the site immediately held great promise for archaeologists. The team sought to study how early urban areas in the Near East developed, and how these developments led to the emergence of smaller cities.
They soon uncovered numerous tombs dating to the Early Bronze Age, between 3500 and 2000 B.C.E. Naturally, they found various artifacts within these tombs, including jewelry, pottery, cookware, and more. But some of the most intriguing discoveries were four lightly-baked clay cylinders with what appeared to be alphabetic writing etched into them.
Further analysis via carbon dating techniques placed the tombs, the artifacts, and the etchings to around 2400 B.C.E. Based on small perforations on the clay cylinders, the researchers determined that they had likely been tethered to other objects, effectively serving as a label of sorts. Although they haven’t been able to translate what the cylinders say, the presence of alphabetic writing alone was remarkable.
Glenn Schwartz/Johns Hopkins UniversityPerforations on the cylinders suggest they may have been tethered to other objects.
“Previously, scholars thought the alphabet was invented in or around Egypt some time after 1900 B.C.E.,” Schwartz said, according to Phys.org. “But our artifacts are older and from a different area on the map, suggesting the alphabet may have an entirely different origin story than we thought.”
These findings would actually push the history of alphabetic writing back by about 500 years.
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How This Discovery Could Rewrite The History Of Written Communication
Traditionally, scholars had traced the origins of history’s first alphabets to the Proto-Sinaitic script, developed around 1900 B.C.E. by Semitic-speaking workers in Egypt. This script was a simplified adaptation of Egyptian hieroglyphs, tailored to represent the sounds of the Semitic languages spoken by these workers.
Public DomainThe Proto-Sinaitic script found on ancient tablets in Egypt.
However, the new discovery from Tell Umm-el Marra is now changing that history.
Despite the significance of this find, the exact nature and purpose of these inscriptions remain a mystery. Without a means to translate the inscriptions, one of which reads “Silanu” (perhaps someone’s name), any interpretations remain speculative. Still, it can’t be understated just how monumental this discovery is.
“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,” 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.”
After reading about the world’s oldest known alphabet, learn about the Rosetta Stone and how it unlocked the secret of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Then, read about the life of Louis Braille, the man who created the revolutionary alphabet for the blind.
