In the 6th century BCE, the Greek alphabet used 24 letters. To make numbers, the Greeks added three more symbols (accounts differ as to whether these were resurrected older letters or newly ...

A Johns Hopkins archaeologist recycles a 20-year-old hypothesis that small clay cylinders found in an ancient tomb reset the genesis of letters by 500 years. Why are people listening now? The post ...

But Schwartz, over time, began to explore the possibility that the symbols on the cylinders could be an early Semitic alphabet dating to the Bronze Age. After the discovery of the first artifact, the ...

And yet, while the tablet dates back thousands of years before Sumerian and still more thousands of years before the ancient Greek alphabet emerged around 770 BC, researchers said the Dispilio ...

Symbols on finger-sized clay objects discovered during dig at ancient city of Umm el-Marra could be earliest known alphabet (Glenn Schwartz, Johns Hopkins University) ...

Archaeologists say they have uncovered evidence of what may be the world's oldest known alphabet. The alphabetic writing system was identified on finger-length clay cylinders excavated from a tomb ...

Here are 10 ancient mysteries researchers still can’t explain—but maybe you can. Get Reader’s Digest ’s Read Up newsletter for more history, humor, cleaning, travel, tech and fun facts all ...

Archaeology & History World’s Oldest Alphabet Turns Up in Ancient Syrian Tomb. The writing was found on cylinders dating back to around 2400 B.C.E.

image: 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.

The ancient Greeks were incredibly talented mathematicians—but they rarely used numbers in their math. Their particular specialty, geometry, dances around actual quantities, focusing on higher ...