The origins of writing in ancient Mesopotamia and beyond may rest on a group of cylindrical seals. A team of archeologists from the University of Bologna in Italy has identified a series of ...

Joshua Hammer takes a hugely enjoyable look at three rivals who competed to decipher the world’s oldest writing ...

While humans have been making their mark on the surfaces of this Earth for at least tens of thousands of years, it's difficult to pinpoint the exact moment our impulse to record what we saw tipped ...

Ancient DNA has revealed links between the cultures of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Researchers sequenced whole genomes from the ...

Designs on stone cylinders dating back six thousand years correspond to some signs of the proto-cuneiform script that emerged in the city of Uruk, in southern Iraq, around 3350–3000 BCE.

Researchers from the University of Bologna have unveiled how ancient cylinder seals played a key role in the development of writing in ancient Mesopotamia, marking a significant breakthrough in ...

In the same city, a form of archaic writing made up of pictographic signs called proto-cuneiform also developed. Like the cylindrical seals, proto-cuneiform was used for accounting and bureaucratic ...

Researchers report that AI deciphered the Hammurabi tablet at 98% accuracy, opening the door to translating ancient cuneiform ...

A team of ancient literature experts have deciphered a Mesopotamain text that was missing for over 1,000 years. Etched on ...

The genome of a man who lived in Egypt over 4500 years ago offers a new window on the ancient society and hints at ...