Computer Study Tracks Paleolithic Marks and Symbols

Archaeology Magazine ^ | February 27, 2026 | editors / unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

According to a statement released by Saarland University, repeated lines, notches, dots, and crosses etched on Paleolithic artifacts some 40,000 years ago exhibit the same level of complexity and information density as proto-cuneiform script, which emerged around 3000 B.C. Linguist Christian Bentz of Saarland University and archaeologist Ewa Dutkiewicz of the Museum of Prehistory and Early History in Berlin used computers to analyze the statistical properties of more than 3,000 signs on 260 Paleolithic artifacts. “We hypothesized that the early proto-cuneiform script would be more similar to the writing systems of today, especially due to their relative proximity in time,” Dutkiewicz said. “Yet the more we studied them, the clearer it became that the earlier proto-cuneiform script is very similar to the much older Paleolithic sign sequences,” she continued. The study may eventually help researchers narrow down potential interpretations of what information the marks might have conveyed to Paleolithic people, Dutkiewicz concluded. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. To read about the origins of an early script known from inscriptions found on the Sinai Peninsula, go to "Primordial Alphabet Soup."

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TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: epigraphyandlanguage; godsgravesglyphs; paleolithic

[SunkenCiv]

The Adorant figurine from Germany's Geißenklösterle Cave is approximately 40,000 years old and consists of a small ivory plate bearing an anthropomorphic figure and multiple sequences of notches and dots.

© Landesmuseum Württemberg/Hendrik Zwietasch, CC BY 4.0

[SunkenCiv]

In her Plato Prehistorian: 10,000 to 5,000 B.C. Myth, Religion, Archaeology, Mary Settegast reproduces a table (above) which shows four runic character sets; a is Upper Palaeolithic (found among the cave paintings), b is Indus Valley script, c is Greek (western branch), and d is the Scandinavian runic alphabet.

The Ancient Wisdom: Origin of Writing [this kinda poor scan is one *I* did 20 or so years ago, and my online version of it died with tinypic; but of course, I feel famous. Even the caption was what I'd typed in, btw. Dunno who "ancient wisdom" is, maybe a FReeper? :^)]

(The graphic is one I scanned in the late 1990s at what was higher res back then, and it's floated around the internet and wound up on that website. Non-secure, so you'll have to visit the link to see it.)

[SunkenCiv]

[toddmoore]

The older (40,000 year old) writing appears more similar to (3000 BC) Cuneiform script because it is likely about that same age. Carbon dating also mistakes coal (formed as a result of the flood) to be around that age or a bit older. Humans and civilizations in the LXX chronology go back to 5439 BC. The flood occurred in 3183 BC. There is no trace of the world that once was. However, after that time we see the first writing and civilizations.

[GingisK]

Coal formed because of the flood. Laughable.

[mairdie]

Wow, does this take me back to college days. The researchers could never have gone this indepth back then. It was all original sources but with organization limited by no computers. I remember choosing NOT to go into research looking at the work my prof was doing trying to identify anonymous sculptors of the statues on the outside of a cathedral by examining the payroll records of the quarry workers delivering the stone to the cathedral. I hope he lived long enough to see the future of this type of research.

[FrankRizzo890]

(Insert Ovaltine comment here)

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