Mysterious signs from 6,000 years ago years will help solve the mystery? An extraordinary discovery of scientists

By carefully analyzing the patterns on these artifacts, scientists are increasingly understanding how writing might have been invented and what role ancient Mesopotamian societies played in it. It was there, in what is now Iraq, that cuneiform writing developed, considered the oldest writing system in the world, used to write the Sumerian language on clay tablets from around 3400 BC

Mesopotamian cylinder seals. Proto-marten and its place in history

Before the development of cuneiform writing, however, there was an older system based on abstract pictographic signs known as proto-kun. It appeared around 3350-3000 BC in the city of Uruk, one of the oldest centers of Mesopotamian civilization. Proto-Kunic symbolism was relatively complex and still remains partially deciphered, making it difficult to fully understand its function and significance in the lives of the inhabitants of Uruk.

The latest research by a team of scientists from the University of Bologna, led by prof. Silvia Ferrara, suggest that the motifs on cylinder seals, invented in Uruk around 4400 BC, had a key influence on the development of this writing. “Our findings show that the patterns engraved on cylinder seals are directly related to the development of cuneiform writing in southern Iraq,” says Ferrara, a specialist in classical philology and Italian studies.

Cylindrical seals as the foundations of proto-marten

In Uruk, known today as Warka, cylinder seals were widely used for administrative and accounting purposes, which was of great importance to ancient resource management systems. Cutters engraved motifs on cylinders, which were then rolled over wet clay to create unique patterns.

In this preliterate society, seals served a role in identifying goods and securing commercial transactions, and also formed the basis of early accounting systems that tracked the production, storage, and movement of goods such as grain and textiles.

Among the evidence emphasizing the connection between seals and proto-marten, scientists mention physical documentation of trade in the form of numerical tablets, tokens and the so-called “bullae” – clay balls containing tokens, sealed as a form of securing information about stored resources.

Although there is general agreement that proto-Kunic writing originated from these recording methods, there has been a lack of evidence as to exactly how this process occurred.

“This was our initial question: Did seal images contribute significantly to the invention of signs in the first writing system in the region?” – says Ferrara.

To find the answer, the team compared the seal motifs with proto-Marten pictograms, finding that many of them had similarities in both shape and meaning. Such direct correlations suggest that seals played a key role in the development of proto-marten.

A new look at the beginnings of the magazine

The study found that symbols related to the transport of goods, such as vessels and textiles, were crucial to the development of writing. Kathryn Kelley, co-author of the study, points out that the symbols on the seals often depicted fringed fabrics or vessels carried in nets, suggesting that the seals were intended to document the flow of goods between cities.

“These images later transformed into proto-Marten signs, which, as Mesopotamian civilization developed, formed the basis of a full-fledged writing system,” explains Kelley.

Prof. Eckart Frahm of Yale University, who was not involved in the study, believes the discovery is of great importance. “The article does this for the first time, establishing convincingly that many (proto-Marten) signs have iconographically close similarities in the repertoire of seal images.”

The study found that ancient Mesopotamians used seals alongside writing for many millennia, showing that writing did not replace the original methods of documentation, but rather evolved from them.

The gap between prehistory and history

Scientists emphasize that the transition from pre-literate symbols to writing is a key moment in the history of human cognitive technologies. Prof. Ferrara notes that “the invention of writing marks the transition between prehistory and history,” and proto-Marten symbols from Uruk illustrate how important skillful management of resources and trade was at that time.

Dr. J. Cale Johnson from Freie Universität Berlin adds that this study allows us to understand why some non-numeric cuneiform signs, which originate from proto-marten, have their original roots in seal symbols. “This gap in the origin story – where the non-numeric cuneiform signs come from – has remained unresolved,” Johnson emphasizes.

Towards a complete decipherment of the proto-marten

Although research on the proto-marten is progressing, many of the symbols remain undeciphered. Prof. Ferrara points out that the “stylized and often abstract nature of many proto-kun signs” poses an obstacle to their full understanding, which distinguishes them from the more pictorial Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Nevertheless, researchers believe that future discoveries in the field of archeology and iconography will bring us closer to a more complete understanding of proto-marten and its role in the history of writing.

Ferrara emphasizes that the study helps explain how the conceptual leap from symbolism to writing contributed to the development of “true” writing, which emerged within a few centuries of the rise of proto-martin. “Writing seems to be an essential technology that would naturally develop over time,” says the researcher, adding that “how quickly proto-marten transformed into cuneiform writing illustrates the progress of contemporary societies.”