The writing system is thought to have originated ... But the origins of proto-cuneiform’s emergence have been murky, and many of its symbols remain undeciphered. Researchers conducting a careful ...

Now, a new paper suggests that one of the world’s earliest writing systems may have been influenced by older symbols engraved on small cylinders. These stone “cylinder seals” helped our ...

The Steps to True Writing True writing systems use graphic symbols to represent speech unambiguously. They allow literate people to write anything they can say, and have it read just as intended.

Here’s how it works. The world's oldest known system of writing was influenced by symbols used for trade — engravings found on cylinders used in the exchange of farming produce and textiles ...

Whether or not the symbols are actually writing depends on what you mean by “writing”, says d’Errico. Strictly speaking, a full system must encode all of human speech, ruling the Stone Age ...

They’ve now concluded that those symbols are letters—and they may be the world’s oldest known evidence of alphabetic writing. The tomb is located in Tell Umm-el Marra, an ancient city some ...