Still more on those 3rd-millennium alphabetic (?) inscriptions

NORTHWEST SEMITIC (?) EPIGRAPHY: Is this the world's oldest alphabet? While excavating clay cylinders in Syria, archaeologists discovered a rare find: an early writing system. The script has given scholars the new challenge of reinvestigating the timeline of alphabetic symbols (Anna Thorpe, National Geographic).

The discovery at Umm el-Marra now suggests that alphabetical writing may have not only emerged 500 years earlier than the Sinai script but also done so in a different location.

“Paradigm-shifting discoveries gain acceptance gradually, not rapidly,” [epigrapher Christopher] Rollston said. He is confident that if more inscriptions are found, preferably longer texts, a solid consensus on the new script will develop.

See here and links for earlier coverage. This article has a good account, perhaps more confident than earlier ones. There seems to be agreement that the markings are writing. Whether they are alphabetic writing seems less certain. I hope they find more samples.

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