The origins of the world’s earliest writing point to symbols on “seals” used in Mesopotamian trade.

The world’s oldest known writing system was influenced by symbols used in trade – engravings found on cylinders used in the exchange of agricultural products and textiles, a new study suggests.

This discovery confirms an idea proposed in earlier studies: cuneiform, which was developed early Mesopotamia around 3100 BC and is believed to be the earliest writing system, arising in part from accounting methods for tracking the production, storage, and transportation of such items.

According to the researchers, several symbols engraved on stone “cylinder seals” evolved into the signs used in “proto-cuneiform,” an early version of cuneiform used in southern Mesopotamia, now southern Iraq. The researchers reported their findings in a study published Tuesday (Nov. 5) in the journal. Antiquity.

Such cylinder seals were used for thousands of years throughout Mesopotamia, where they were rolled on clay tablets to imprint their motifs on them – often to confirm a transaction or, later, a letter.

Some of the seals examined in the new study date back to around 4400 BC – more than 1,000 years before the advent of writing. “We focused on seal images that predated the invention of writing and continued to evolve during the proto-writing period,” say the study’s co-authors. Katherine Kelly And Mattia CartalanoThis is stated in a statement by both researchers from the Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies at the University of Bologna.

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The team’s work revealed seal motifs associated with the transport of jars and cloth between various Mesopotamian cities, likely involving temple institutions. Researchers suggest that these motifs became proto-cuneiform characters in early writings about trade in agricultural products and textiles.

According to the authors, the discovery, which still has skeptics, shows continuity between “preliterate” seals and early writing.

“This proves that the motifs known on cylinder seals are directly related to the development of writing in southern Iraq and shows how meaning was transferred from preliterate motifs into writing,” they wrote in a statement.

Plates with symbols carved on them

An example of proto-cuneiform writing on a clay tablet, viewed from different angles. (Image courtesy of CDLI.)

The oldest letter

Cuneiform writing used a stylus to create wedge-shaped impressions on unfired clay. These impressions created signs representing sounds to record spoken language. The clay could be dried or fired, preserving the signs.

Cuneiform was developed Sumerian civilization who lived in the first cities of southern Mesopotamia from about 5500 to 2300 BC, when they were succeeded by the Akkadian Empire, based in the city of Akkad.

The Akkadians adopted the Sumerian writing system but applied it to their own language, and Akkadian cuneiform became the common written language of Mesopotamia for more than 2,000 years, over the following centuries. Babylonian And Assyrian periods.

New research highlights several motifs found on preliterate cylinder seals. The authors suggest that these motifs evolved into the proto-cuneiform marks seen on 5,000-year-old clay tablets from the southern Mesopotamian city of Uruk. These include symbols depicting a building, reed poles and fringed fabrics in a vessel.

The authors hope their work will help scientists decipher more proto-cuneiform symbols, as well as provide insight into the meaning of some seal motifs.

“The conceptual leap from preliterate symbolism to writing represents a significant development in human cognitive technology,” study co-author. Silvia FerraraThis is stated in a statement by a professor at the Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies at the University of Bologna. “The invention of writing marks a transition between prehistory and history, and the results of this study bridge that gap by illustrating how some late prehistoric images were incorporated into one of the earliest writing systems invented.”

Diagram showing different symbolic writing systems.

Various proto-cuneiform signs and their possible cylinder seal predecessors. (Image credit: Silvia Ferrara et al.)

Unclear origin

Anthropologist Gordon WhittakerAn expert on the origins of cuneiform at the University of Göttingen in Germany, who was not involved in the study, called it “interesting and thought-provoking.” However, he cautioned that it may be premature to assume that the motifs on the cylinder seals were “the impetus for the invention of writing.”

“In the few cases where the same object is depicted on both a seal and a proto-cuneiform sign, there is no obvious cause-and-effect relationship that links one to the other,” he told Live Science via email.

“Moreover, some shapes—for example, a narrow oblong element with no internal details—are simply too general or vague to be useful for the authors’ argument,” he said.

Archaeologist at the University of Pennsylvania Holly Pittmanwho was not involved in the study, told Live Science by email that the new research confirmed her assumption, made about 30 years ago, that seal images had a fundamental influence on proto-cuneiform.

Pittman said the idea was rejected at the time, but she was pleased to see the authors of the new study reach the same conclusion.