# Proto-cuneiform records Sumerian

> Still possible: Proto-cuneiform was devised by and for Sumerian speakers and its signs stood for Sumerian words, with limited rebus spelling from Uruk III.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/answers/ANS0DEDW4B5BNA0/proto-cuneiform-records-sumerian  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
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[Questions](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions)[Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform)[What language, if any, do the proto-cuneiform texts record?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/questions/QST0DEDT73JJJ1B/what-language-if-any-do-the-proto-cuneiform-texts-record)Answer

Answer · Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk

# Proto-cuneiform records Sumerian

Proto-cuneiform was devised by and for Sumerian speakers and its signs stood for Sumerian words, with limited rebus spelling from Uruk III.

**Still possible** Answers **1** question0

## Where it stands

**Still possible** One piece of evidence for, two against. It needs two reviews to be accepted.

## What it predicts

- Some Uruk III or Uruk IV sign uses will prove to be phonetic spellings of Sumerian words when checked in context.
- The archaic personal names, once tabulated, will show Sumerian structure at a rate above chance.
- Entries of the archaic lexical lists will keep their Sumerian readings into the later copies at a rate above what sign-by-sign inheritance alone predicts.

## What would rule it out

- A statistical comparison of the roughly 440 archaic names with Early Dynastic Sumerian name patterns finds no more Sumerian structure than a random baseline.
- Every proposed Uruk IV and Uruk III rebus spelling is shown to have a pictorial or institutional explanation.

## Evidence 1 for · 2 against

[The sign shapes and the lexical lists continue without a break from Uruk III into Early Dynastic cuneiform, which…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/evidence/EVD0DEDXMB7KHAG/the-sign-shapes-and-the-lexical-lists-continue-without-a)

Established

FOR

[About 440 archaic personal names show none of the divine elements or ur-/amar- patterns found in every later Sumerian…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/evidence/EVD0DEDXMN6P3DD/about-440-archaic-personal-names-show-none-of-the-divine)

Suggestive

AGAINST

[No secure phonetic spelling of a Sumerian word exists in Uruk IV, and the proposed Uruk III cases fail or are unclear…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/evidence/EVD0DEDXMG7BY07/no-secure-phonetic-spelling-of-a-sumerian-word-exists-in)

Supported

AGAINST

## The questions it answers

[What language, if any, do the proto-cuneiform texts record?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/questions/QST0DEDT73JJJ1B/what-language-if-any-do-the-proto-cuneiform-texts-record)

Open5 answers, none ahead

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). Proto-cuneiform records Sumerian [Answer ANS0DEDW4B5BNA0]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ANS0DEDW4B5BNA0
```

Key

**ANS** 0DEDW4B5BNA0

Kind

Answer · hypothesis

Proposed

[Session 1](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform/sessions/SES0DEDZMVP66KE/session-1-proto-cuneiform-seeded-corpus-readings-and-open) · 31 Oct 2026

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