May 11, 2026
Clay drama hits the fan
A lost ancient script reveals how writing as we know it began
Experts say a forgotten script may have changed history — commenters say “not so fast”
TLDR: Researchers say proto-Elamite, a forgotten script from ancient Iran, may force a rewrite of how writing began. Commenters were split between excitement, eye-rolling over the article’s hype, and jokes that the missing evidence may have vanished on ancient paper.
A dusty, mostly unreadable script from ancient Iran is suddenly being pitched as a huge missing chapter in the story of writing — and the comments instantly turned into a glorious cage match over whether this is a breakthrough or just overhyped archaeology. The article says proto-Elamite appeared around 5,200 years ago, right alongside early Egyptian and Mesopotamian writing, and may even have been a big leap toward writing down actual speech. In plain English: this could be one of the earliest moments humans stopped just counting stuff and started trying to capture words.
But the community was not content to gasp politely. One camp loved the bigger-picture angle, with commenters bringing up books about how early states rose, fell, and constantly wrestled with power. Their vibe: writing wasn’t just a smart invention, it was a tool for governments to count grain, control trade, and boss people around. Another camp came in swinging at the article itself, basically accusing it of acting like proto-Elamite was some ignored underdog when, according to one unimpressed reader, popular books have discussed it for decades. Ouch.
And then came the classic internet wildcard energy: one commenter shrugged that we may never know who invented writing first, pointing to mysterious examples from Mexico, while another tossed out the wonderfully chaotic theory that maybe the Elamites quit clay because they invented paper-like materials that rotted away. So yes, the real drama here is ancient history meeting modern comment-section skepticism: part awe, part fact-check, part "what if the receipts literally decomposed?"
Key Points
- •The article argues that proto-Elamite was a third early writing system alongside Egyptian hieroglyphs and Mesopotamian cuneiform.
- •Proto-Elamite tablets found across the Iranian plateau, especially at Susa, are currently thought to date to about 5200 years ago.
- •Some scholars, including Jacob Dahl, say proto-Elamite was probably inspired by proto-cuneiform, citing geographic proximity and similarities in signs and writing method.
- •Other researchers, including Amy Richardson, say uncertain dating means proto-Elamite may have emerged independently or in parallel with the other earliest scripts.
- •Proto-Elamite remains largely undeciphered: its numerical signs are understood, but most non-numerical signs are not.