Emily Chan
One of the earliest writing systems in the world may have been influenced by symbols engraved on ancient “cylinder seals.” These small stone cylinders helped people keep track of goods and transactions.
Cuneiform, the earliest known writing system, was invented in Mesopotamia around 3100 B.C.E. Before cuneiform, humans used proto-cuneiform, a simpler system that appeared around 3350 to 3000 B.C.E. It featured symbols that were stamped or carved into wet clay.
“The invention of writing marks the transition between prehistory and history, and the findings of this study bridge this divide by illustrating how some late prehistoric images were incorporated into one of the earliest invented writing systems,” said Silvia Ferrara, a co-author of the study from the University of Bologna in Italy.
Researchers argue that the origins of writing can be traced back to cylinder seals, which were used for thousands of years to record the production, transportation, storage, and sale of textiles and agricultural products.
In Mesopotamia, Uruk was among the first cities to emerge. Throughout the 4th millennium B.C.E., it served as an important center of activity and influenced a large region that stretched from southwestern Iran to southeastern Turkey. The cylinders were created in this region.
The cylinders were typically made of stone and engraved with a series of patterns and designs. Then, they were rolled across wet clay tablets to leave indentations. Some of them were used before writing was invented.
A research team examined cylinder seals that date to 4400 to 3400 B.C.E. When they compared the images on the cylinder seals with those that were part of the proto-cuneiform system, they found multiple matches.
Proto-cuneiform consists of hundreds of pictographic signs. Its use was primarily documented in southern Iraq. To this day, more than half of the signs have not been deciphered.
The team looked for correlations on both the cylinder seals that were used before the invention of writing and proto-cuneiform to see if the seal imagery contributed to the first writings in the region.
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