Researchers have made another major stride in understanding humanity's origins of writing. In Mesopotamia, the birthplace of civilization, the earliest known writing system started around 3,000 BCE.

This particular development produced what scholars call cuneiform, taken from the Latin cuneus, meaning "wedge." At first, writing was used as a practical tool primarily for administration, accounting ...

Every writing system in history followed the same invisible pressure: reduce the symbols, increase the reach. This is the ...

For thousands of years, these ancient writing systems have resisted every attempt at decipherment — and what they might tell us about the ancient world remains one of archaeology's greatest unsolved ...

The world’s oldest known writing system may have had its origins in the imagery on decorated cylinders used to denote ownership or record transactions. Some of the symbols on these cylinder seals ...

The tablet could predate the earliest known evidence of writing in the Caucasus region by over a thousand years, hinting at a potentially lost script. Italian researchers suggest that symbols from the ...

The origins of writing in Mesopotamia lie in the images imprinted by ancient cylinder seals on clay tablets and other artifacts. A research group from the University of Bologna has identified a series ...

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Early writing is a tale of two scripts. Egyptian hieroglyphs and Mesopotamian cuneiform both emerged independently about 5300 years ago. The political powers of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia ...