Reading the Babylonian relic, which includes a circular map accompanied by text in the ancient style of cuneiform which used wedge-shaped symbols, has unlocked a mythical world of monsters and beasts.

Found etched into clay cylinders in Syria, the strange symbols date to around 2400 B.C.E.—500 years before other known ...

Four clay cylinders inscribed with what might be the oldest known evidence of alphabetic writing are 500 years older than other early alphabets, according to new research.

The early writing appears to date to around 2400 B.C.—preceding the previous most bygone examples by roughly 500 years.