5,500-Year-Old Seals Offer New Clues About the Birth of Writing

For centuries, scholars person puzzled implicit the origins of the world’s archetypal penning system. Now, a survey by Italian researchers reveals that immoderate of these earliest proto-cuneiform signs whitethorn person evolved straight from motifs connected prehistoric cylinder seals.

The research, published successful Antiquity, identified idiosyncratic symbols carved into past Mesopotamian seals—used for tracking goods and conducting trade—that look to person straight transformed into proto-cuneiform signs, a publication that emerged successful Macedonia implicit 5 1000 years ago. These connections not lone shed airy connected the archetypal invention of writing, but could besides assistance decipher further proto-cuneiform symbols, much than fractional of which are inactive a enigma to scholars.

Experts wide hold that cuneiform, invented by the Sumerians successful what is present modern-day confederate Iraq during the 4th millennium BCE, is the oldest penning strategy successful the world—and arsenic acold arsenic we know, the universe. All the large Mesopotamian civilizations, including the Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Hittites, utilized it until astatine slightest 100 BCE. Cuneiform evolved from proto-cuneiform, a precursor publication composed of elemental symbolic pictographs that gradually incorporated syllabic elements. The earliest grounds of proto-cuneiform appears successful the highly influential past Sumerian metropolis of Uruk and dates to betwixt 3350 and 3000 BCE.

Researchers person agelong suspected that proto-cuneiform itself developed from past accounting methods. Now, the Italian probe squad suggests that immoderate proto-cuneiform symbols whitethorn person been adapted straight from motifs recovered connected 5th and fourth-millennium cylinder seals—a benignant of hollow cylindrical stamp that, erstwhile pressed and rolled crossed brushed clay, leaves down a rectangular-shaped design.

Among different things, cylinder seals and proto-cuneiform tablets were past accounting tools. Cylinder seals were besides invented successful Mesopotamia, and administrators utilized them to way mostly cultivation and textile commercialized starting successful the mid-fourth millennium BCE. Experts hold that proto-cuneiform tablets were utilized successful accounting arsenic well, though grounds of this is constricted to confederate Iraq.

“The adjacent narration betwixt past sealing and the invention of penning successful southwest Asia has agelong been recognised, but the narration betwixt circumstantial seal images and motion shapes has hardly been explored,” Silvia Ferrara, a philologist from the University of Bologna who participated successful the study, explained successful a statement. “Did seal imagery lend importantly to the invention of signs successful the archetypal penning successful the region?”

To reply the question, the squad decided to hunt for idiosyncratic similarities betwixt cylinder seal motifs and proto-cuneiform signs, with the purpose of identifying links not conscionable successful signifier but besides successful respect to meaning. They focused connected cylinder seal motifs that originated earlier the invention of penning and continued to make alongside the emergence of proto-cuneiform.

Ultimately, the researchers identified a fig of seal motifs related to the transport of jars and cloth which they suggest were the nonstop precursor to circumstantial proto-cuneiform signs—highlighting “a circumstantial continuity betwixt pre-literate awesome systems and the invention of writing,” for the archetypal time, they wrote successful the study.

“The conceptual leap from pre-writing symbolism to penning is simply a important improvement successful quality cognitive technologies,” Ferrara concludes successful the statement. “The invention of penning marks the modulation betwixt prehistory and history, and the findings of this survey span this disagreement by illustrating however immoderate precocious prehistoric images were incorporated into 1 of the earliest invented penning systems.”

Ultimately, this revelation sheds airy connected the imaginable root of the archetypal written script—arguably 1 of the top achievements of past civilizations—which allowed for different important advancements, specified arsenic long-distance communication, record-keeping, and literature.