The elegant pictorial writing system of the ancient Egyptians—known as hieroglyphics—has fascinated generations of archeologists. Its precise origins are uncertain. One ancient Egyptian legend holds ...

Researchers have uncovered links between the precursor to the world’s oldest writing system and the mysterious, intricate designs left behind by engraved cylindrical seals that were rolled across clay ...

While humans have been making their mark on the surfaces of this Earth for at least tens of thousands of years, it's difficult to pinpoint the exact moment our impulse to record what we saw tipped ...

SANTA CRUZ — While a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University, UC Santa Cruz history professor Elaine Sullivan unearthed ancient artifacts in Syria marked with an alphabetic script whose meaning ...

Researchers have recently made groundbreaking progress in decoding mysterious symbols found on ancient tablets, potentially unlocking secrets of ancient civilizations. These discoveries could ...

A small stone tablet pulled from the soil of western Georgia has opened a vast new mystery. Inscribed with dozens of unfamiliar symbols, the artifact appears to preserve a script that does not match ...

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in ...