Long before those rules were invented, symbols representing basic concepts ... cylinder seals they analyzed originated before writing emerged in ancient Mesopotamia, through to the proto-literate ...

The discovery was thrilling but mysterious. “Anytime you're working in an ancient context and you find something with writing on it, it’s very exciting,” Sullivan explains. However, when the team ...

The ancient Egyptians invented one of the earliest known writing systems used from around 3000 BC. The symbols they used were called hieroglyphs, which comes from a Greek word meaning ...

At Tell Umm-el Marra, finger-length clay cylinders, unearthed by Johns Hopkins University archaeologists, show engraved symbols—possibly the earliest alphabetic writing—found at this ancient ...