An Assyrian gypsum cuneiform dedicatory panel, reign of Tukulti-Ninurta I, circa 1243-1207 BC. Of rectangular form, finely engraved on both sides, with 280 lines of text divided into eight columns ...

Before email, before the printing press, before the alphabet you’re reading right now — there was cuneiform. Pressed into wet clay with a sharpened reed, these wedge-shaped marks became humanity’s ...

Researchers have uncovered links between the precursor to the world's oldest writing system and the mysterious, intricate designs left behind by engraved cylindrical seals that were rolled across clay ...

Cuneiform cookies? Yes, they are a thing. Though it has been centuries since Akkadian was spoken, cuneiform writing has had an unexpected burst of popularity as a cookie decoration. The idea started ...

The world’s oldest known writing system may have had its origins in the imagery on decorated cylinders used to denote ownership or record transactions. Some of the symbols on these cylinder seals ...

Deciphering some people's writing can be a major challenge—especially when that writing is cuneiform characters imprinted onto 3,000-year-old tablets. Now, Middle East scholars can use artificial ...

Tel Yaqush cylinder-seal artefact. A Late 4th millennium cylinder-seal amulet from Tel Yaqush and its contribution to the understanding of Early Bronze Age I–II communities in the Central Jordan ...

Co-authors Kathryn Kelley and Mattia Cartolano from the University of Bologna's Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies studied seal imagery from before the invention of writing. A ...

The man in the center with the full white beard is Mr. Finkel, an expert on cuneiform writing. The British Museum has 130,000 cuneiform clay tablets waiting to be deciphered. Finkel has a clay tablet ...