In the Middle Ages, the Roman alphabet and runes lived side by side. A new doctoral thesis challenges the notion that runes represent more of an oral and less of a learned form of written language.

The early history of the alphabet may require rewriting. Four clay artefacts found at an ancient site in Syria are incised with what is potentially the earliest alphabetic writing ever found. The ...

Words found written in ink on a broken pottery sherd from Tel Lachish, Israel, represent a “missing link” in the history of the alphabet, write researchers in the journal Antiquity. Though the writing ...