According to a statement released by the University of Bologna, researchers led by classicist Silvia Ferrara have discovered that designs on Mesopotamian cylinder seals were the precursors to certain signs in proto-cuneiform script, an archaic writing system based on pictographs. Some 6,000 years ago, engraved cylinder seals were created to record the production, storage, and transport of textiles, crops, and other goods. The seals were rolled on clay tablets to create impressions of the cylinder's etched designs. Sumerian scribes in the ancient city of Uruk, in modern-day southern Iraq, developed proto-cuneiform around 3000 b.c. Ferrara and her colleagues identified a...