Mastodawn

Time for proto-#cuneiform

https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/paleolithic-humans-invented-an-early-predecessor-to-writing-at-least-40-000-years-ago-carved-signs-suggest?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us #linguistics #paleolithic #language #archaeology

Paleolithic humans invented an 'early predecessor to writing' at least 40,000 years ago, carved signs suggest

A statistical analysis of a series of signs carved into artifacts from around 40,000 years ago suggests humans developed proto-writing in the Stone Age.

Live Science

Vassil Nikolov | Васил Николов 2d ago

The claim is rather extraordinary:
existence of writing during the Middle Paleolithic.

The claim is based on statistical analysis.
Now, "more than 3,000 characters on 260 objects" means an average of just 12 characters per object, but the BBC article doesn't mention even the range of character counts per object, never mind the variance.

BBC Article:
Patterns on mammoth tusks help to retell history of writing
<https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgknj7yyv2o>

#Archaeology
#Paleolithic
#Prehistory
#Writing

Patterns on mammoth tusks help to retell history of writing

Scientists believe they have found evidence of written thoughts of Stone Age people on ancient objects.

Vassil Nikolov | Васил Николов 2d ago

The claim is rather extraordinary:
existence of writing during the Late Paleolithic.

The claim is based on statistical analysis.
Now, "more than 3,000 characters on 260 objects" means an average of just 12 characters per object, but the article doesn't mention even the range of character counts per object, never mind the variance.

BBC Article:
Patterns on mammoth tusks help to retell history of writing
<https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgknj7yyv2o>

#Archaeology
#EarlyWriting
#Paleolithic
#Prehistory

Patterns on mammoth tusks help to retell history of writing

Scientists believe they have found evidence of written thoughts of Stone Age people on ancient objects.

Jens Notroff 4d ago

#Paleolithic sign sequences as information #recording system?

This is quite a fascinating re-evaluation of the "ornaments", i.e. repeated lines, notches, dots and crosses, on 34,000 to 45,000 y/o artifacts from #Swabian Jura caves:

https://nachrichten.idw-online.de/2026/02/23/signs-on-stone-age-objects-precursor-to-written-language-dates-back-40000-years via @idw_online

Signs on Stone Age objects: Precursor to written language dates back 40,000 years

Jens Notroff 4d ago

#Paleolithic sign sequences as information #recording system? This is quite a fascinating re-evaluation of the "ornaments", i.e. repeated lines, notches, dots and crosses, on 34,000 to 45,000 y/o artifacts from #Swabian Jura caves: 🏺 nachrichten.idw-online.de/2026/02/23/s... via @idw-online.de@bsky.brid.gy

Signs on Stone Age objects: Pr...

Signs on Stone Age objects: Precursor to written language dates back 40,000 years

Anthropology.net 6d ago

New research finds that 40,000-year-old Aurignacian sign sequences share a statistical fingerprint with the earliest protocuneiform writing — despite a 35,000-year gap. Not writing. But not nothing either. #Archaeology #HumanEvolution #Paleolithic https://www.anthropology.net/p/the-marks-that-predate-writing-by

The Marks That Predate Writing by 35,000 Years

A new study finds that Stone Age sign sequences carved into ivory figurines share a statistical fingerprint with the earliest known writing — and the implications are stranger than they sound.

Anthropology.net

smiergahttu Feb 22

A brand new study of the solitary (for now) magdalenian hunting camp in Tatra Mountains from my friends in Kraków!
See more:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2026.110151

#archaeology #paleolithic #mountains

Archaeology News

Feb 21

New 3D method maps Paleolithic engravings at Cova Matutano

Researchers from Universitat Jaume I, the University of Barcelona, and ICREA tested a digital method to study very fine engravings on Late Paleolithic portable art. Their work focused on three objects from Cova Matutano in eastern Spain...

More information: https://archaeologymag.com/2026/02/paleolithic-engravings-at-cova-matutano/

@archaeology

#archaeology #archeology #archaeologynews #rockart #anthropology #paleolithic