The research was carried out by a team of scientists from Bologna University, led by Professor Sylvia Ferrara. Over the years, archaeologists in modern-day Iraq have unearthed thousands of clay tablets, small stone cylinders dating back 6,000 years, and ancient clay tokens.
The investigation began by challenging the traditional theory of the emergence of writing in Mesopotamia. Of particular interest were the tokens, which varied in size and shape, resembling everyday household items deliberately. In contrast, the images on cylindrical seals were more iconographic and depicted real objects more clearly.
Many of the seal drawings bear a resemblance to the signs of a primitive writing system that emerged centuries later in the city of Uruk. Archaeologists believe that these seals, used to communicate information between Uruk and neighboring cities, played a crucial role in advancing communication among people. Beyond serving as personal signatures, they also functioned as an accounting system, enabling the tracking of agricultural and textile movements in ancient Mesopotamia. While not the sole contributor to the development of writing, these new findings significantly enhance the understanding of how image-based subscription traditions shaped the earliest information recording systems.
Professor Ferrara highlighted that writing emerged independently in four regions of the world – Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and among the Mayan peoples in South America. The discovery of unknown writing systems in modern-day India and Pakistan, as well as on Easter Island, suggests a potential fifth origin of writing. Regrettably, despite various attempts, these scripts have yet to be deciphered.