Researchers investigating how the first writing arose identified the motifs on preliterate "cylinder seals" used in the trade of agricultural products and textiles.

Researchers at the University of Bologna claim to have bridged the gap between symbolism and writing, therefore prehistory ...

This piece of clay contains some of the earliest writing in the world. It's called 'cuneiform,' which means wedge-shaped. This tablet is a record of the daily beer rations for workers. Beer here ...

This is a Sumerian cuneiform clay tablet from the Ur III period, c.2100 B.C. This was the heyday of the Sumerian civilisation which occupied much of modern day Iraq. Sumerian was a non-Semitic ...

Sir — Sumerians are credited with some of the most important inventions that shaped the course of all of humanity. These include writing, the plough, the chariot and hydraulic engineering, am­ong ...

A symposium on Sumerian civilization and literature was recently held at Peking University, bringing together scholars and ...