A team of archaeologists from Johns Hopkins University, led by Professor Glenn Schwartz, has discovered small clay cylinders with inscriptions in Syria that appear to be the oldest known examples of alphabetic writing to date. These inscriptions, dating back to approximately 2400 BCE, predate other alphabetic systems by about 500 years. This discovery could reshape […]
Alphabets
Posted inIron Age Archaeology
A Paleo-Hispanic Alphabet Found on the Slate Tablet from the Casas del Turuñuelo Site
Researchers from the Institute of Archaeology of Mérida (IAM), a joint center of the CSIC and the Junta of Extremadura, are studying a series of signs inscribed on the slate tablet from the Tartessian site of Casas del Turuñuelo (Guareña, Badajoz) which discovery was announced last week, and according to initial interpretations, it appears to […]
Posted inIron Age Archaeology
Greek Colonization of the Mediterranean and Development of Greek Alphabet Began 150 Years Earlier than Previously Thought
A team of dedicated researchers has recently made a remarkable discovery that sheds new light on the Late Geometric period in ancient Greece, a time that witnessed significant cultural advancements and the beginning of Greek colonization in the central Mediterranean. By employing cutting-edge radiocarbon dating techniques on animal bones found in stratigraphic sequence with Geometric […]
Posted inAntiquity
Mesrob Mashtots, the Armenian Monk of the 5th Century AD who Invented Alphabets
Čanačʿel zimastutʿiwn ew zxrat, imanal zbans hančaroy (To seek wisdom and discipline, to understand insightful words…) This quote is from the Book of Proverbs (1:2), one of the books of the Old Testament traditionally attributed to Solomon. It is also said to be the phrase chosen by the monk Mesrob Mashtots to translate the Bible […]
Posted inCulture, Modern Era
Dalrunes, the Nordic runes that were used until the 20th century in a region of Sweden
Runes are the letters used to write by some Germanic peoples during Antiquity and the Middle Ages, mainly in Scandinavia but also in other areas where these peoples settled. The oldest known runes date back to the 2nd century AD. The first chronologically would be the comb inscription found on the Danish island of Funen, […]
