Oldest Canaanite Writing – Um el Mara

October 21, 2025 at 7:45 pm

Oldest Canaanite Writing – Um el Mara

Glenn Schwartz – Johns Hopkins

Four small clay cylinders from the ancient city of Umm el-Marra in northwestern Syria are inscribed in what may be the earliest known alphabetic writing.

Discovered by Glenn Schwartz and his excavation team from Johns Hopkins University in a tomb that included many rich grave goods, the cylinders have been radiocarbon dated to 2400-2300 BCE. These inscriptions may radically change our understanding of the emergence of the alphabet, as they predate the better-known Proto-Canaanite inscriptions from Sinai by some 500 years.

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