doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2520385123
Credibility: 989
#Writing
More than 40,000 years ago, our ancestors were intentionally engraving marks on tools, small figurines, and ivory objects, long before the emergence of any known writing system
A recent study by linguist Christian Bentz of Saarland University and archaeologist Ewa Dutkiewicz of the Berlin Museum of Prehistory and Protohistory reveals that these ancient marks were not mere decorative embellishments.
By analyzing more than 3,000 signs found on approximately 260 objects from the Paleolithic period, the researchers discovered that the sequences of lines, dots, crosses, and notches exhibit a statistical complexity and information density surprisingly similar to that of proto-cuneiform-the oldest known writing system to date, which emerged in Mesopotamia around 3000 BC, that is, tens of thousands of years later.
Many of these artifacts were found in caves in the Swabian Jura region of southwestern Germany.
Among them are small sculptures made of mammoth ivory, such as a mammoth figurine covered in organized rows of crosses and dots, or the famous plaque called “Adorer,” which shows a hybrid lion-human figure accompanied by regular sequences of dots and notches.
Another well-known piece is the “Lion-Man” sculpture, which features uniform markings along one of its arms.
Researchers traveled to museums and archaeological sites in Europe to document even more examples.
According to Dutkiewicz, objects with similar sequences of markings appear in various regions, although the Swabian Jura is one of the richest areas for finds of this type.
These pieces date from 34,000 to 45,000 years ago, a time when Homo sapiens had already left Africa and arrived in Europe, coexisting even with Neanderthals.
Instead of trying to guess the exact meaning of the marks-something that remains a mystery-the team used computational methods from quantitative linguistics, statistics, and machine learning to study measurable characteristics: the frequency with which certain signs are repeated, the predictability of the sequences, and how much information they could, in theory, convey.
The results were unexpected.
Unlike modern writing, which represents speech and carries a high density of information with little repetition, both Paleolithic and proto-cuneiform marks exhibit high repetition (such as cross, cross, cross, line, line, line) and high predictability in the sequence of signs.
In terms of “entropy”-a measure of how much information is encoded-the two systems are statistically very similar.
Interestingly, the marks exhibit a higher information density than the simple tools.
This discovery suggests that the human capacity to encode information through visual symbols is much older than we imagined.
The objects were small enough to be carried in the palm of the hand, indicating that people carried them with them-similar to proto-cuneiform clay tablets.
The authors do not claim that these signs were “writing” in the modern sense, but rather that they represent an intentional system of signs, a primitive way of recording or transmitting information.
Perhaps they served to count, mark important events, coordinate social groups, or aid in survival in a challenging world.
Christian Bentz points out that the ability to encode information into signs evolved over tens of thousands of years and that writing itself is only a specific stage in this long history.
Interestingly, the same principle of predicting sequences-central to ancient systems-remains present in current technology, including in artificial intelligence models that work precisely by analyzing predictable patterns in language.
This research, published in the journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” (PNAS), is part of a larger project funded by the European Research Council and demonstrates that our Paleolithic ancestors already possessed advanced cognitive abilities to create and use visual symbols in a structured way.
? Rare Earth (@rareearth0) February 25, 2026
Writing may be over 40,000 years old!#Writing
More than 40,000 years ago, our ancestors were intentionally engraving marks on tools, small figurines, and ivory objects, long before the emergence of any known writing system: pic.twitter.com/jHdZVhrEFG
Published in 02/25/2026 00h17
Text adapted by AI (Grok) and translated via Google API in the English version. Images from public image libraries or credits in the caption. Information about DOI, author and institution can be found in the body of the article.
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