Earliest Egyptian Hieroglyphs at Abydos (Tomb U-j)
- Date
- c. 3250 BCE
- Category
- Science, technology & invention
- Region
- Upper Egypt (Egypt)
- Era
- Prehistory
- Significance
Bone and ivory tags, pottery, and clay seal impressions bearing proto-hieroglyphic signs were deposited in Tomb U-j in the Umm el-Qaab necropolis at Abydos, the burial ground of Predynastic and Early Dynastic rulers.
Excavated by the German Archaeological Institute under Gunter Dreyer and conventionally dated between roughly 3320 and 3150 BCE, these tiny labels (each one to four glyphs) recorded quantities and the geographic origin of commodities such as grain and cloth attached to containers. They constitute the oldest known examples of Egyptian writing and document writing's emergence from an administrative, record-keeping context. The corpus offers a rare window into the origins of the hieroglyphic system, including early sign repertoires and the use of phonetic spelling, and places Egypt alongside Mesopotamia among the world's earliest literate civilisations. The system would mature over the following centuries into a full script combining logograms and phonetic signs used for monumental, religious, and administrative purposes.
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Related science, technology & invention events
- Invention of cuneiform writing at Urukc. 3300–3100 BCE
- Earliest wheeled vehicles in Mesopotamiac. 3300–3000 BCE
- Ötzi the Iceman, a Copper Age life preserved in icec. 3300 BCE
- Invention of the wheel and wheeled vehiclesc. 3500 BCE
- Invention of the potter's wheel in Mesopotamiac. 3500 BCE
- Early horse domestication on the Eurasian steppec. 3500 BCE
Further reading
The wider story
A Little History of Science
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