Inventing Writing in South-west Asia
January 2025 | Vol. 13.1
By Kathryn Kelley, Mattia Cartolano, and Silvia Ferrara
The shift from pre-writing symbols to actual writing represents a major advancement in human cognitive technology, as the invention of writing marks the boundary between prehistory and history. The INSCRIBE team at the University of Bologna has published some recent findings that help bridge that gap by showing how certain late prehistoric images became part of one of the earliest writing systems ever invented. We have elucidated connections between cylinder seal motifs (c. 4400–3400 BCE) and later proto-cuneiform symbols from Uruk (southern Iraq, first documented c. 3350–3000 BCE), casting new light on the early stages of writing in this region.
As one of the earliest cities in Mesopotamia, Uruk played a central role in the fourth millennium BCE, exerting influence across a vast region from southwestern Iran to southeastern Türkiye. Cylinder seals, invented in this area, were engraved with designs and rolled across clay tablets to imprint their motifs. From the mid-fourth millennium BCE, cylinder seals became integral to a pre-literate accounting system for managing the production, storage, and distribution of goods — primarily agricultural and textile products.
Figure 1: Example of a cylinder seal and modern impression: Ritual scene before a temple façade. Ca. 3500 – 3100 BCE (Late Uruk period). Metropolitan Museum of Art 1983.314.1. Image: Public Domain.
Proto-cuneiform features hundreds of pictorial signs, though the meanings of over half remain undeciphered. Like cylinder seals, it facilitated accounting, but was exclusively used in southern and central Iraq.
Figure 2: Example of a proto-cuneiform tablet recording information about malt and barley. Uruk III period (ca. 3200-3000 BCE). Metropolitan Museum of Art 1988.433.3. Image: Public Domain.
The connection between ancient seals and the invention of writing in southwest Asia has long been acknowledged, yet specific links between seal images and sign shapes have rarely been explored. The question we posited is the following: Did seal imagery play a significant role in shaping the earliest writing signs in this region?
To answer this, we systematically compared cylinder seal motifs with proto-cuneiform symbols, seeking meaningful correlations in both shape and content. We concentrated on seal images that predate writing yet evolved into the proto-literate period, and identified motifs related to clothing and goods transport that transformed into proto-cuneiform signs, demonstrating a direct connection between pre-literate seal designs and the birth of writing. We also found that cylinder seals and proto-cuneiform tablets were used together, serving administrators and scribes in documenting the transfer of textiles and vessels between cities and temple households.
Figure 3: Comparisons of proto-cuneiform signs with pre-literate seal elements. Signs are rotated for comparison with iconography. Figure by authors. Courtesy Antiquity Journal.
Converging information technologies?
The development of proto-cuneiform signs built upon pre-literate administrative practices, including numerical notation systems, while expanding the scope of recorded information. Although the practice of sealing tablets and other clay devices continued after proto-cuneiform’s introduction, fewer tablets were sealed. Correlating seal motifs on tablets with their contents remains challenging, further complicated by limited understanding of the script. One Uruk IV tablet, where both script and seal impressions reference boars, offers slight evidence of signs being used to reinforce seal information. However, iconographic trends and changing use patterns suggest evolving roles for seals after writing emerged, possibly indicating that writing took over certain functions that seals had previously fulfilled.
A survey of seals from Late Chalcolithic-1 to Late Chalcolitic-4 contexts (c. 4400–3400 BC) across Southwest Asia has identified a few compelling parallels between pre-literate seal motifs and proto-cuneiform signs, supported by contextual evidence. For instance, a “pole and net” symbol (ZATU639 in the figure below) — found alongside cattle signs on tablets — resembles an object sometimes depicted with cattle in both pre-literate and proto-literate seals
Figure 4: Symbol ZATU639, found on a proto-cuneiform administrative text (W 9579,cc) is comparable in both shape and context to an impressed bulla from Susa. Figure by the authors.
A compelling case for the transformation of pre-literate administrative symbols into proto-cuneiform signs can also be made for a related pair of motifs—the fringed cloth () and the vessel in a net (). These symbols appear widely among the “inter-regional” motifs on clay sealings, bullae and numerical tablets. Their presence on numerical tablets, in particular — a document type marking the transition between pre-literate accounting and proto-literate writing — argues for a trajectory of symbolic representation from seals to inscribed signs. Comparable shapes may be seen in the proto-cuneiform textile or fringed cloth sign ZATU662 (and perhaps others), and what we identify here as a netted/suspended vessel sign (ZATU190 and ZATU191–194).
More in detail, the connection between these motifs and proto-cuneiform signs is evident through several close associations (see Fig. 5). For example, the netted-vessel sign appears alongside the façade and flagpole (Fig. 5b), reflecting combinations seen in seals (Fig. 5d). An Uruk III tablet documents a delivery of dairy oils using the signs E2 (“house” ) GAN (“netted vessel”), possibly indicating a “vessel delivery” to an institution or temple. The account also references a household marked by a flag/pole on a hut and lists an EN-official associated with a textile (ZATU753), a sign that appears with the fringed textile motif elsewhere (Fig. 5c). These correlations are also reflected in a seal impression from Susa on a numerical tablet and a bulla which combines a façade, flag/pole, netted vessel, and fringed textile motif (Fig. 5a & 5d).
Figure 5: Comparison of inter-regional motifs from pre-literate seal imagery and proto-cuneiform tablets. Figure by authors. For more details and examples, see the supplementary material accompanying our Antiquity article.
The role of seals in the invention of writing
Our analysis shows that seals played a pivotal role in the evolution of writing in Southwest Asia. While the schematic nature of proto-cuneiform can obscure these connections from a modern perspective, identifying commonalities helps illuminate the cultural contexts in which they arose. For example, the motifs of fringed textiles and netted vessels illustrate how pre-literate symbols could transform into written signs while retaining some semantic associations. The connection between fringed textile and netted-vessel signs and “façade” and “pole” signs on tablets further ties them to late pre-literate administrative traditions that linked Uruk to other cities across Southwest Asia, enriching our understanding of the forces driving the invention of writing in southern Iraq.
In the early stages of writing, seals and signs often shared similar shapes and reflected one another, though they remained distinct systems of information. Mapping the extent of this shape sharing contributes to a more integrated, cohesive, and compelling account of writing’s development. This discovery adds nuance to the invention of writing in South-west Asia and offers significant insights into the evolution of symbols and script. It confirms that motifs from cylinder seals directly contributed to inventing writing in southern Iraq, showing how meaning transitioned from pre-literate images to script. This finding not only enhances our understanding of the origins of writing as a complex phenomenon, but may also aid future efforts to understand proto-cuneiform and deepen insights into the meanings behind seal motifs.
Silvia Ferrara is Professor in the Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies, University of Bologna, and PI of the project INSCRIBE: Invention of Scripts and their Beginnings.
Kathryn Kelley is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies, University of Bologna and member of the INSCRIBE team.
Mattia Cartolano is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies, University of Bologna and member of the INSCRIBE team.
Their article, “Seals and signs: Tracing the origins of writing in ancient South-west Asia” was recently published in the journal Antiquity. DOI:10.15184/aqy.2024.165
Further Reading
Brandes, M.A. 1979. Siegelabrollungen aus den archaischen Bauschichten in Uruk-Warka. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner.
Dittmann, R. 1986. Seals, sealings and tablets: Thoughts on the changing pattern of administrative control from the Late-Uruk to the Proto-Elamite period at Susa, in Finkbeiner, U. & Röllig, W. (ed.) Ğamdat Naṣr: period or regional style?: 332–66. Wiesbaden: Reichert
Englund, R.K. 1998. Texts from the late Uruk period, in Bauer, J., Englund, R.K. & Krebernik, M. (ed.) Mesopotamien: Späturuk-Zeit und Frühdynastische Zeit: 15–233. Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
Englund, R.K. 2006. An examination of the ‘textual’ witnesses to late Uruk world systems, in Yushu, G. & Yiyi, C. (ed.) A collection of papers on ancient civilizations of western Asia, Asia Minor and North Africa: 1–38. Beijing: Oriental Studies Special Issue.
Matthews, R. 1993. Cities, seals and writing: archaic seal impressions from Jemdet Nasr and Ur. Berlin: Mann.
Nissen, H.J. 2011. Schule vor der Schrift, in Selz, G.J. & Wagensonner, K. (ed.) The empirical dimension of Ancient Near Eastern studies: 589–602. Berlin: LIT.
Pittman, H. 1994. Towards an understanding of the role of glyptic imagery in the administrative systems of proto-literate greater Mesopotamia, in Ferioli, P. (ed.) Archives before writing: 177–203. Torino: Ministero Beni Culturali.
Pittman, H. 2013. Imagery in administrative context: Susiana and the west in the fourth millennium BC, in Petrie, C.A. (ed.) Ancient Iran and its neighbours: 293–336. Oxford: Oxbow.
Pittman, H. 2023. Iconicity, composition, and semantics: a structural investigation of pictures in an early writing environment, in Zsolnay, I. (ed.) Seen not heard: composition, iconicity, and the classifier systems of logosyllabic scripts: 237–71. Chicago (IL): Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures.
Scott, S.J. 2018. Slave labour: Uruk cylinder-seal imagery and early writing, in Ameri, M., Kielt Costello, S., Jamison, G. & Jarmer Scott, S. (ed.) Seals and sealing in the ancient world: 68–80. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
How to cite this article:
Kelley, K., Cartolano, M., and S. Ferrara. 2025. “Inventing Writing in South-west Asia.” The Ancient Near East Today 13.1. Accessed at: https://anetoday.org/writing-southwest-asia/.
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