Although far from the oldest writing we have found, these cylinders are 500 years older than any previously known example of alphabetic script, if that is indeed what they carry.

Researchers have discovered evidence of the oldest alphabetic writing in human history. The writing was etched onto clay cylinders discovered during a dig at an ancient Syrian city.

At an archaeological excavation site in western Syria, Schwartz unearthed a “finger-length” clay cylinder with etched letters ...