World's oldest alphabet, dating back to 4,000 years, found on clay cylinders in Syria

Archaeologists made a stunning discovery of the world's oldest known alphabetic writing etched on the finger-length clay cylinders found in excavation of a tomb in Syria.

The writing was found to be dated to around 2400 BC by researchers at Johns Hopkins University in the United States.

The findings were presented at the American Society of Overseas Research's annual meeting. “Alphabetic writing changed the way people lived, how they thought, how they communicated,” said archaeologist Glenn Schwartz, who was behind the discovery of the clay cylinder.

Alphabets revolutionised language, say experts

According to the experts, this form of writing is likely to have revolutionised language because it was accessible to people who were beyond the social elite and royalty.

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"Alphabets revolutionised writing by making it accessible to people beyond royalty and the social elite. Alphabetic writing changed the way people lived, how they thought, how they communicated," said Schwartz in a press release. 

"And this new discovery shows that people were experimenting with new communication technologies much earlier and in a different location than we had imagined before now," he added. 

Speaking about the lightly baked clay cylinders, on which alphabetic writing was etched, Dr Schwartz said, “And this new discovery shows that people were experimenting with new communication technologies much earlier and in a different location than we had imagined before now."

Based on small perforations that were on the clay cylinders, scientists said that it most probably tethered to another object.

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“Maybe they detail the contents of a vessel, or maybe where the vessel came from, or who it belonged to,” explained Dr Schwartz.

“Without a means to translate the writing, we can only speculate," he added. The researchers used carbon dating techniques to confirm that the tombs, the artefacts, and the writing all dated back to 2400 BC.

“Previously, scholars thought the alphabet was invented in or around Egypt sometime after 1900 BCE,” said Dr Schwartz. 

“But our artefacts are older and from a different area on the map, suggesting the alphabet may have an entirely different origin story than we thought," he added. 

(With inputs from agencies)