November 22, 20243 min readA finger-sized clay cylinder from a tomb in northern Syria appears to be the oldest example of writing using an alphabet rather than hieroglyphs or cuneiformBy Stephanie PappasClay objects discovered during a dig at the ancient city of Umm el-Marra were engraved with symbols that may be part of the earliest known alphabet. Glenn Schwartz, Johns Hopkins University (CC by)Researchers may have deciphered the oldest known scrap of alphabetic writing yet discovered, and it may be a nearly 4,500-year-old gift tag.A clay cylinder found in a…
