Researchers investigating how the first writing arose identified the motifs on preliterate "cylinder seals" used in the trade of agricultural products and textiles.

Most Indologists think it's “logo-syllabic” script like Sumerian cuneiform or Mayan glyphs. But they disagree about whether it was a spoken language or a full writing system; some believe it ...

This episode traces the history of cuneiform, exploring how this script worked, who used it and what they used it for, what it tells us about the inhabitants of ancient Mesopotamia, and how it was ...

This is a Sumerian cuneiform clay tablet from the Ur III period, c.2100 B.C. This was the heyday of the Sumerian civilisation which occupied much of modern day Iraq. Sumerian was a non-Semitic ...

Best-selling author Joshua Hammer joins John Williams to discuss his new book, “The Mesopotamian Riddle.” Joshua talks about ...

You need lots of examples of the script. You need a good understanding ... The conventional history of writing dates its emergence to Proto-Cuneiform tablets used in the economy of ancient Mesopotamia ...