For centuries, scholars have wondered about the origins of the world’s first writing system. Now a study by Italian researchers reveals that some of these earliest proto-cuneiform characters may have developed directly from motifs on prehistoric cylinder seals.
The research, published in Antiquityidentified individual symbols inscribed in ancient Mesopotamian seals – used to track goods and conduct trade – that appear to have been directly transformed into proto-cuneiform characters, a script that appeared in Macedonia over five thousand years ago. These connections not only shed light on the first invention of writing, but may also help decipher additional proto-cuneiform symbols, more than half of which are still a mystery to researchers.
Experts agree on that cuneiforminvented by Sumerians in what is now present-day southern Iraq during the fourth millennium BC, is the oldest writing system in the world—and as far as we know, the universe. All the major Mesopotamian civilizations, including the Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Hittites, used it until at least 100 BC. Cuneiform developed from proto-cuneiform, a precursor script composed of simple symbolic pictographs that were gradually incorporated syllabic elements. The earliest evidence of proto-cuneiform writing occurs in the highly influential ancient Sumerian city Uruk and is dated to between 3350 and 3000 BC.
Scholars have long suspected that proto-cuneiform writing itself evolved from ancient accounting methods. Now the Italian research team suggests that some proto-cuneiform symbols may have been adapted directly from motifs found in the fifth and fourth millennia cylinder seals—a kind of hollow cylindrical stamp which, when pressed and rolled over soft clay, leaves behind a rectangular shape.
Among other things, cylinder seals and proto-cuneiform tablets were ancient bookkeeping tools. Cylinder seals were also invented in Mesopotamia, and administrators used them to track mostly agricultural and textile trade beginning in the mid-fourth millennium BC. Experts agree that proto-cuneiform tablets were also used in bookkeeping, although evidence for this is limited to southern Iraq.
“The close connection between ancient sealing and the invention of writing in Southwest Asia has long been known, but the relationship between specific seal images and character forms has hardly been explored,” Silvia Ferrara, a philologist from the University of Bologna who participated in the study, explained in a statement. “Did seal images contribute significantly to the invention of signs in the first writing in the region?”
To answer the question, the team decided to search for individual similarities between cylinder seal motifs and proto-cuneiform characters, with the aim of identifying links not only in form but also in terms of meaning. They focused on cylinder seal motifs that originated before the invention of writing and continued to develop alongside the rise of proto-cuneiform writing.
Ultimately, the researchers identified a number of seal motifs related to the transport of jars and cloth that they suggest were the direct predecessors of specific proto-cuneiform characters – highlighting “a specific continuity between pre-literate symbol systems and the invention of writing.” for the first time, they wrote in the study.
“The conceptual leap from prescriptive symbolism to writing is a significant development in human cognitive technology,” Ferrara concludes in the statement. “The invention of writing marks the transition between prehistory and history, and the results of this study bridge this gap by illustrating how some late prehistoric images were incorporated into one of the earliest invented writing systems.”
Ultimately, this revelation sheds light on the potential origins of the first written script—arguably one of the greatest achievements of ancient civilizations—which enabled other crucial advances, such as long-distance communication, record-keeping, and literature.
