The earliest known example of alphabetic writing has been discovered etched onto small clay cylinders in an ancient Syrian tomb, which was excavated by researchers from Maryland’s Johns Hopkins ...

The oldest known alphabetic writing has been found etched onto finger-length clay cylinders unearthed from a tomb in Syria. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University in the US dated the writing to ...

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A clay artifact, about the size of a finger, was discovered during an excavation at the ancient ...

Clay objects roughly the size of fingers were discovered during a dig at the ancient city of Umm el-Marra. The engraved symbols may be part of the earliest known alphabet. What appears to be evidence ...

Long before the “A, B, C Song” — built upon the Latin alphabet — and the alphas, betas and gammas of Ancient Greek, cultures around the world were communicating with one another. The Sumerians of ...

In 2004, while she was still a meticulous young graduate student, Elaine Sullivan made a discovery that would deepen the history of human writing. Using trowels and brushes to remove ancient soil at ...

Just outside the Syrian city of Aleppo, archaeologists have discovered what may be the oldest example of alphabetic writing ever found. Ahmad Sofi via Unsplash UPDATE: This story has been updated to ...