Ancient cylinder seals from Mesopotamia shaped the development of proto-cuneiform at Uruk around 3000 BC, linking prehistoric images to the beginnings of written communication.

Researchers at the University of Bologna have traced the origins of writing in Mesopotamia to drawings imprinted with ancient cylinder seals on clay tablets and other artifacts. Their research, published in the journal Antiquity, finds a direct relationship between the drawings engraved on these cylinders, dating back about six thousand years, and some signs in the proto-cuneiform script that appeared in the current city of Uruk. in the south of the country. Iraq, around 3000 BC.

This work offers new perspectives on the origin of writing and can not only help researchers gain new information about the meaning of the drawings on the cylinder seals, but can also help them decipher many hitherto unknown signs in proto-cuneiform writing.

“The conceptual leap from pre-literary symbolism to writing is a significant advance in human cognitive technology,” explains principal investigator Silvia Ferrara, professor of classical philology and Italian studies at the University of Bologna. “The invention of writing marks the transition between prehistory and history, and the results of this study fill this gap by showing how some late prehistoric images were incorporated into one of the earliest invented writing systems.”

Cylinder seals and proto-cuneiform

Uruk, one of the first cities to emerge in Mesopotamia, was an extremely important center that penetrated a wide region extending from southwest Iran to southeast Turkey during the 4th millennium BC. Cylindrical seals were created in this region. These cylinders, usually made of stone and carved with a series of patterns, were rolled onto clay tablets, leaving an imprint of the stamped pattern.

From the mid-4th millennium BC, cylinder seals were used as part of the accounting system to track the production, storage and transportation of various consumer goods, including agricultural and textile products.

It was in this context that proto-cuneiform emerged: an archaic form of writing composed of hundreds of pictograms, more than half of which remain undeciphered to this day. Like cylinder seals, proto-cuneiform was used for record keeping, but its use is mostly documented in southern Iraq.

Uncovering ancient symbolism

“The close connection between ancient seals and the invention of writing in Southwest Asia has long been known, but the connection between specific seal images and sign forms remains largely unexplored,” says Ferrara. “Our first question was: Did seal paintings contribute significantly to the invention of signs in the region’s early writing?”

To find the answer, the researchers systematically compared the cylinder designs to proto-cuneiform signs, looking for correlations that could reveal direct connections in both graphic form and meaning.

“We focused on seal paintings that predated the invention of writing, continuing to develop towards the period of early literacy,” added Catherine Kelly and Mattia Cartolano, researchers at the University of Bologna and co-authors of the study. “This approach allowed us to identify a series of drawings related to the handling of textiles and ceramics, which later developed into the corresponding proto-cuneiform signs.”

This discovery reveals for the first time a direct link between the cylinder seal system and the invention of writing., It offers new perspectives to examine the evolution of symbols and writing systems.

“Our findings indicate that the designs engraved on cylinder seals are directly related to the development of the first cuneiform script in southern Iraq,” Ferrara confirms. “They also show how the meaning associated with these drawings was integrated into the writing system.”