In western Syria, archaeologists have made a groundbreaking discovery that may reshape our understanding of the origins of the alphabet.
At the site of Tell Umm el-Marra, which was once a thriving urban center, researchers believe they have uncovered the oldest evidence of alphabetic writing ever found.
This site has been under excavation for 16 years, revealing numerous insights into early civilizations in the region. However, this latest find could be the most significant yet.
Within one of the best-preserved tombs—remarkably untouched by looters—archaeologists unearthed six skeletons, along with a collection of grave goods. Among these items were four small, perforated clay cylinders, each bearing intriguing markings.
Upon closer examination, experts noted that the symbols on the clay cylinders resembled a form of Semitic alphabet. What makes this discovery particularly astonishing is that carbon dating indicates the cylinders are approximately 500 years older than the previously known oldest recorded alphabetic script.
“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,” explained Glenn Schwartz, a professor of archaeology at Johns Hopkins University and the leader of the excavation team. His comments highlight just how transformative the development of alphabetic writing was for human civilization.
Schwartz further emphasized the unexpected nature of the discovery. “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,” he said.
Before this, scholars generally believed that the first alphabet emerged in or near Egypt after 1900 BCE. However, the clay cylinders found at Tell Umm el-Marra predate this period by several centuries.
“Previously, scholars thought the alphabet was invented in or around Egypt sometime after 1900 BCE,” Schwartz stated. “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.”
This statement challenges long-standing assumptions about the development of written language and suggests that the earliest known alphabetic scripts may not have originated in Egypt after all.
Until now, the oldest known examples of a Semitic alphabet came from the proto-Sinaitic inscriptions, which were discovered in 1905 on the Sinai Peninsula. Only 20 to 40 examples of these inscriptions exist, and they are thought to represent an intermediate stage of writing, transitioning from Egyptian hieroglyphics to the North Semitic alphabet. However, the discovery at Tell Umm el-Marra forces scholars to reconsider this narrative.
As Schwartz explains, the newly found clay cylinders date back to the 20th century BCE at the latest, making them at least 500 years older than the proto-Sinaitic inscriptions. This means that the evolution of alphabetic writing could have begun in an entirely different location and time period than previously believed.
“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. Without a means to translate the writing, we can only speculate,” Schwartz shared.
This uncertainty leaves many unanswered questions about the nature and purpose of these ancient inscriptions.
While further analysis is needed to decipher the symbols and confirm their significance, this discovery is already reshaping our understanding of early written communication. If the markings on the clay cylinders do represent an early alphabet, they could provide crucial insights into how and where the first forms of alphabetic writing emerged. As archaeologists continue to investigate, this find has the potential to rewrite the history of the written word.
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