Discovering the oldest writing in America

Ancient civilizations in Mexico developed a writing system from 2,000 years ago. Veracruz's state discovery of a rock carving iconic figures surprised the anthropologists. According to them, this is evidence of the oldest writing in the New World.

The stone is from the first millennium BC. It was created by the Olmec civilization in Central America, which is located in the middle of the Sinaloa valley in northern Mexico and Fonseca Bay in southern El Salvador. It is home to the Aztecs, Mayans and their ancestors.

The Olmec people appeared in the Gulf of Mexico around 1200 BC. They are known for decorative carvings consisting of letters or symbols that symbolize letters, sounds or words, from around 900 BC. But scholars are still unclear whether this is considered to be true writing.

The stone " Cascajal block " was first discovered at Cascajal in the late 1990s. The slab weighs 12 kg and is 36x21x13 cm. The script consists of 62 symbols, some repeated up to 4 times. The rock was studied by an international team of archaeologists earlier this year.

Cascajal block stones consist of 62 ancient symbols. (Photo: AP)

The group said these characters match every standard of the word written by clear elements, the arrangement and order patterns.

"I think this is an extremely important finding. It provides evidence that Olmec people created the first writing," said Mary Pohl, of the University of Florida in Tallahassee, USA.

The board is carved from rare serpentine stone, proving to be a sacred object used for ceremonial purposes. The writing has not been deciphered, but scientists hope that subsequent excavations will find a clue to the content of the board.

MT