Archaeologists have uncovered the oldest known alphabetic writing in an ancient Syrian city, suggesting alphabets may be around 500 years older than previously thought. Johns Hopkins University ...

In 2004, while she was still a meticulous young graduate student, Elaine Sullivan made a discovery that would deepen the history of human writing. Using trowels and brushes to remove ancient soil at ...

Clay objects roughly the size of fingers were discovered during a dig at the ancient city of Umm el-Marra. The engraved symbols may be part of the earliest known alphabet. What appears to be ...

An ancient Middle Eastern civilization that developed an early alphabet spread its culture far and wide—but not its DNA, finds a 23 April Nature study of hundreds of ancient human genomes.

An ancient Middle Eastern civilization that developed an early alphabet spread its culture far and wide — but not its DNA, finds a 23 April Nature study 1 of hundreds of ancient human genomes.