Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... A vertical column of 10 glyphic words, uncovered last year in ruins in Guatemala, is unreadable even by the most expert scholars, but they know what it means ...

Symbols and markings carved into tools and figurines by Stone Age humans over 40,000 years ago could be an ancient precursor to writing, according to a new analysis. The marks, found on 260 artifacts ...

The world’s oldest known writing system may have had its origins in the imagery on decorated cylinders used to denote ownership or record transactions. Some of the symbols on these cylinder seals ...

Co-authors Kathryn Kelley and Mattia Cartolano from the University of Bologna's Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies studied seal imagery from before the invention of writing. A ...

Ancient figurines carved from animal bones hint at a lost chapter of human history 40,000 years ago. Archaeologists analyzing more than 3,000 etchings on 260 prehistoric relics have uncovered one of ...

A 40,000-year-old mammoth figurine bears markings that researchers say might be an early precursor to writing. - Hildegard Jensen/Universität Tübingen Symbols and markings carved into tools and ...