Oldest writing in the New World discovered

By Jeff Hecht

A slab inscribed with the oldest writing yet discovered in the New World
has been discovered in the Veracruz lowlands in Mexico.

The writing dates back nearly 3000 years to the height of the Olmec
culture that was the first Mesoamerican civilization, Mexican
archaeologists report.

Called the Cascajal slab, it had been rescued along with other artifacts
from a quarry at Lomas de Tacamichapa, in 1999, where it had been
destined for use in road fill.

Isolated symbols have been found on a few Olmec artifacts, but the slab is
the first solid evidence of a true written language, says Stephen Houston
at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, US, who helped analyze
it. (The slab is pictured to the right – scroll down for a clear drawing of the
inscribed symbols)

The script is the first new writing system to be discovered in decades and
is distinct from the writing of later Mesoamerican cultures. "We're talking
about something that happens once in a human lifetime," Houston told
New Scientist.

Repeat appearance

The slab weighs about 12 kilograms and is about the length and width of a
laptop computer, but much deeper (36 centimeters by 21 cm by 12 cm). It
is blank except for one side, which has been ground smooth and inscribed
with 62 symbols of a hieroglyphic script. The symbols are arranged in rows
and some are repeated, similar to other written languages.

Three of the 28 distinct symbols appear four times, six appear three times,
and 12 appear twice. Some symbols resemble objects including an insect,
an ear of corn and a throne.

Carmen Rodriguez and Ponciano Ortiz at the Mexican National Institute of
Anthropology and History recovered the Cascajal slab and helped study the inscription. Direct dating was impossible because
the slab was not found in its original location.

However, about three-quarters of the other artifacts found with the slab come from the San Lorenzo phase of the Olmecs, which
others have dated at 1200 BC to 900 BC. The rest came from a distinct cultural grou

p that occupied the area from about AD 800 to AD 900. Houston thinks the slab itself dates from 1000 BC to 900 BC.

The Cascajal block is 36 centimetres wide and about 3000

years old (scroll down for a clear drawing of the symbols

inscribed upon it) (Image: Stephen Houston)

Great challenge

The slab is the first clear evidence the Olmecs had a written language. The
repeated paring of signs – such as the throne with a mat-like symbol – suggest
poetic couplets, a form used by later cultures in the region, the researchers
say.

It is a great challenge to figure out what they are saying from a single
inscription, Houston told New Scientist, since we know nothing of their
language. He doubts the script is a list of accounts, because it includes nothing
resembling the dots that later Mesoamericans used for numbers. Beyond that,
its meaning remains a mystery.

The presence of similar symbols on other objects suggests the script was used
widely, Houston says. Excavation of nearby waterlogged sites have yielded
many wooden sculptures which otherwise would have decayed in the moist
tropical environment.

Exciting times

With rock rare in the area, he speculates the Olmec usually wrote on wood or
paper that would have decayed long ago. They also may have reused the
Cascajal slab itself, Houston says, suggesting the inscribed side had been
ground down to remove an earlier inscription.

The link to the Olmec culture is convincing, says Mary Pohl of Florida State
University, US, who was not involved in this study. Pohl had previously
excavated an inscribed roller stamp of the Olmec culture, which was firmly
dated to 650 BC (see Early Americans used first writing to promise loyalty).

Recently, another roller stamp has been dated to 1150 BC, pushing back the
origin of the Olmec symbols. "Things are really beginning to come together;
this is really an exciting time," Pohl told New Scientist.

Journal reference: Science (vol 313, p 1610)

An epigraphic drawing of the Cascajal slab makes it

symbols clear – occasional repetition of symbol order

makes a persuasive argument for the representation

of language (Image: Science)