For centuries, scholars have puzzled over the origins of the world’s first writing system. Now, a study by Italian researchers reveals that some of these earliest proto-cuneiform signs may have evolved directly from motifs on prehistoric cylinder seals.

The research, published in Antiquity, identified individual symbols carved into ancient Mesopotamian seals—used for tracking goods and conducting trade—that seem to have directly transformed into proto-cuneiform signs, a script that emerged in Mesopotamia over five thousand years ago. These connections not only shed light on the first invention of writing, but could also help decipher additional proto-cuneiform symbols, more than half of which are still a mystery to scholars.