Cuneiform writing used a stylus to make wedge-shaped impressions in unbaked clay. These impressions created signs ...

New research traces Mesopotamian origins of writing back to trade symbols, shedding light on the evolution of written ...

A link exists between 6,000-year-old engravings on cylindrical seals used on clay tablets and cuneiform, the world’s oldest ...

Before Mesopotamian people invented writing, they used cylinder seals to press patterns into wet clay – and some of the ...

"We focused on seal imagery that originated before the invention of writing, while continuing to develop into the ...

Researchers have uncovered links between the precursor to the world's oldest writing system and the mysterious, intricate ...

Italian researchers suggest that symbols from the oldest writing system in the world may have come directly from cylinder seal motifs.

The earliest known writing system, called cuneiform, was invented around 3100 B.C.E. in Mesopotamia. Before cuneiform, however, humans used a simpler writing system called proto-cuneiform that ...

Research suggests ancient Mesopotamian trade symbols found on cylinder seals contributed to the development of proto-cuneiform writing.

Cuneiform writing used a stylus to make wedge-shaped impressions in unbaked clay. These impressions created signs representing sounds to make a record of spoken language. The clay could be dried ...

Scholars consider cuneiform the first writing system, and humans used its wedge-shaped characters to inscribe ancient languages such as Sumerian on clay tablets beginning around 3400 BC.