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.
