AN awe-inspiring discovery of the oldest known alphabet has been found in a tomb by a group of archaeologists.
The ancient writing was found on several clay cylinders, each the length of a finger, in Syria.
Experts from the Johns Hopkins University in the US believe it dates back to 2400 BC.
This would make the writings around 500 years older than other known alphabetic scripts.
Researchers are due to present the discovery at the American Society of Overseas Research on Thursday.
Archaeologist Glenn Schwartz who orchestrated the discovery has detailed just what the new find means about what we have believed about the beginnings of the alphabet and its evolution.
It also alters our beliefs of former civilisations and the point when language became more mainstream and not simply reserved for royalty and the upper class.
Schwartz said: “Alphabetic writing changed the way people lived, how they thought, how they communicated.
“This new discovery shows that people were experimenting with new communication technologies much earlier and in a different location than we had imagined before now.”
The archaeologist explained how it was previously believed that the alphabet was created in Egypt after 1900 BCE.
But, the new find in Syria which is older and from another location “suggest the alphabet have an entirely different origin story than we thought,” he said.
The writings were found in Tell Umm-el Marra where Schwartz and his colleagues have been working on a 16-year excavation.
They are researching how early urban areas developed in western Syria.
During the dig, they came across several well-preserved tombs from the Early Bronze Age dating between 3500 and 2000 BC.
It was in one of these tombs that the etched cylinders were found alongside six skeletons, gold and silver jewellery, unbroken pottery and cookware, and a spearhead.
But, despite the amazing findings, researchers are unable to read what is written on the four cylinders.
They suspect it is possibly a label that had previously been attached to what it was describing.
Schwartz said: “Maybe they detail the contents of a vessel, or maybe where the vessel came from, or who it belonged to.
“Without a means to translate the writing, we can only speculate.”
The date of the clay cylinders was determined by researchers who used carbon dating technology.
This scientific method has been used on several ancient artefacts to determine the age of organic materials including the Shroud of Turin, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the extinction of the woolly mammoth.
Researchers measure the amount of Carbon-14 remaining in the material to determine age.
Another recent discovery also features old inscriptions on an ancient amulet.
Archaeologists found the fifth-century pendant in Turkey this week but an examination of its inscription revealed a dark side to the find.
