For 100 , learner have puzzled over the origins of the earth ’s first composition system . Now , a study by Italian researchers reveal that some of these earliest proto - cuneiform signs may have evolve directly from motifs on prehistorical cylinder seals .
The enquiry , write inAntiquity , identified individual symbols carve into ancient Mesopotamian seals — used for pass over goods and conduct craft — that seem to have immediately transformed into proto - cuneiform sign , a script that emerged in Mesopotamia over five thousand years ago . These connections not only shed twinkle on the first invention of writing , but could also help trace additional proto - cuneiform symbolic representation , more than half of which are still a mystery to scholar .
Experts widely concord thatcuneiform , fabricate by theSumeriansin what is now modern - day southerly Iraq during the fourth millenary BCE , is the oldest writing system in the world — and as far as we know , the universe . All the major Mesopotamian civilization , including the Akkadians , Babylonians , Assyrians , and Hittites , used it until at least 100 BCE . Cuneiform develop from proto - cuneiform , a precursor book composed of mere emblematical pictographs that gradually incorporatedsyllabic elements . The former evidence of proto - cuneiform appears in the extremely influential ancient Sumerian urban center ofUrukand dates to between 3350 and 3000 BCE .
Example of a cylinder seal and its design imprinted onto clayImage: Frank Raux, Musée du Louvre
Researchers have long suspect that proto - cuneiform itself acquire from ancient accounting methods . Now , the Italian research squad suggests that some proto - cuneiform symbols may have been accommodate now from motif set up on 5th and fourth - millenniumcylinder seals — a sorting of empty cylindrical cast that , when pressed and roll across indulgent remains , go out behind a rectangular - shaped design .
Among other thing , cylinder seals and proto - cuneiform tablets were ancient accounting tools . Cylinder seals were also formulate in Mesopotamia , and decision maker used them to tag mostly farming and fabric swap starting in the mid - fourth millennium BCE . expert agree that proto - cuneiform tablet were used in accounting as well , though grounds of this is limited to southern Iraq .
“ The close relationship between ancient waterproofing and the design of publish in southwestern Asia has long been recognised , but the family relationship between specific Navy SEAL paradigm and signalize soma has hardly been explored , ” Silvia Ferrara , a philologue from the University of Bologna who participated in the cogitation , explain in a statement . “ Did seal off imagery contribute importantly to the excogitation of mansion in the first authorship in the realm ? ”
To answer the question , the squad make up one’s mind to search for individual similarities between cylinder cachet motifs and proto - cuneiform signs , with the aim of identifying links not just in form but also in regard to meaning . They focused on cylinder seal motifs that grow before the innovation of penning and retain to develop alongside the emergence of proto - cuneiform .
Ultimately , the research worker identified a number of seal of approval motif related to the transport of jars and material which they suggest were the verbatim precursor to specific proto - cuneiform foretoken — highlighting “ a specific continuity between pre - literate symbol scheme and the innovation of writing , ” for the first time , they wrote in the study .
“ The conceptual leap from pre - writing symbolization to writing is a substantial development in human cognitive technologies , ” Ferrara concludes in the statement . “ The excogitation of write marks the passage between prehistory and history , and the finding of this field bridge this divide by illustrating how some recent prehistoric images were integrate into one of the early invented penning system . ”
Ultimately , this revelation moult light source on the likely origin of the first publish script — arguably one of the greatest achievement of ancient civilizations — which allow for other crucial advance , such as long - distance communication , record - guardianship , and literature .
chastening : An earlier version of this article mistakenly mention that book first emerged in Macedonia . It ’s actually Mesopotamia .
ArchaeologycuneiformMesopotamiaorigin of drop a line
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