These stone “cylinder seals” helped our ancestors keep track of goods and transactions, according to a study published this week in the journal Antiquity. “The invention of writing marks the ...

Researchers investigating how the first writing arose identified the motifs on preliterate "cylinder seals" used in the trade of agricultural products and textiles.

Seals were most often made of stone but also sometimes of bone, ivory, faience, glass, metal, wood, or even sun-dried or baked clay. A recessed inscription was carved onto the cylinder, which produced ...