Scientists find oldest known alphabet in Syrian tomb
Kyiv • UNN
Clay cylinders with the oldest alphabetic symbols dating back to 2400 BC have been discovered in a Syrian tomb. The discovery changes the understanding of the origin of alphabetic writing.
American archaeologists from Johns Hopkins University have found the oldest example of alphabetic writing in human history during excavations of a tomb in Syria. The discovery was presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Foreign Research (ASOR). This was reported by the Daily Mail, according to UNN.
Details
It is noted that scientists have discovered clay cylinders covered with symbols as long as a human finger in a Bronze Age burial site at Umm el-Marra, where one of the oldest cities in the Middle East was located.
In addition, six skeletons, gold and silver jewelry, kitchen utensils, a spearhead, and complete ceramic vessels were found there.
Radiocarbon dating has shown that the alphabet cylinders were created around 2400 BC, which is about 500 years older than the oldest known examples of writing.
Previously, scientists believed that the alphabet was invented in Egypt or in the region surrounding it sometime after 1900 BC. But the found artifacts are older and belong to a different area. This suggests that the history of the alphabet's origin was not what is commonly thought,
