# Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet > Proto-Sinaitic is the earliest alphabet: about 47 short inscriptions from the Egyptian turquoise mines at Serabit el-Khadim in Sinai, two from Wadi… Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic Publisher: Mysteries Department Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page) Updated: 2026-10-31T15:35:30+00:00 --- **MYS** 0DEDPKNZB213·Mystery · script # Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet **0** [Follow][Ask a question](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions?mystery=proto-sinaitic) Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet ![Photograph of the Proto-Sinaitic inscription on the Serabit el-Khadim statuette (Sinai 346), from Petrie's Researches in Sinai, 1906](https://mysteriesdept.com/media/folio/proto-sinaitic-lead) Petrie, W. M. Flinders · Public domain Where Serabit el-Khadim and Wadi Maghara in Sinai; Wadi el-Hol in Upper Egypt; Timna; scattered finds in Canaan⁠[[4]] When Disputed: c. 1850-1800 BC (most Egyptologists) or c. 1550-1300 BC (Albright, later Sass)⁠[[28]] Corpus About 40-47 Sinai inscriptions, 2 at Wadi el-Hol, 1 at Timna; most are 3 to 15 signs long and many are fragmentary⁠[[4]] Standard edition Sass 1988 (catalogue and palaeography); Hamilton 2006 (sign forms); Darnell et al. 2005 (Wadi el-Hol)⁠[[11]] Sign inventory About 27 consonant signs, each a hieroglyph-derived picture named by a Semitic word; Phoenician later kept 22⁠[[3]] Language A Northwest Semitic (Canaanite) language, inferred from the letter names and the few readable words⁠[[2]] Securely read b'lt "Lady" (Baalat), the phrase l b'lt "to the Lady", and a few names and nouns; no whole Sinai text is agreed⁠[[2]] Holders British Museum (sphinx EA41748); Egyptian Museum, Cairo (statuette and rock panels); rock faces in situ⁠[[25]] Oldest dated descendant Lachish bowl sherd, radiocarbon-dated to c. 1460-1430 BC⁠[[14]] Status Unexplained Questions 0 of 7 answered People [**Alan Gardiner** Egyptologist who read b'lt and explained the script as acrophonic](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/people/FIG0DEDQ9NR2M42/alan-gardiner)[**William F. Albright** Orientalist who published the fullest decipherment of the Sinai texts in 1966](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/people/FIG0DEDQA1M7YKV/william-f-albright)[**Benjamin Sass** Epigrapher; author of the 1988 corpus, who later moved the alphabet's date down to c. 1300 BC](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/people/FIG0DEDQAF6A3S3/benjamin-sass)[**Flinders Petrie** Excavator of Serabit el-Khadim; found and first published the Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/people/FIG0DEDQ9EN2J4G/flinders-petrie)[**Orly Goldwasser** Egyptologist who argued that Canaanite workers who could not read Egyptian invented the alphabet in Sinai](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/people/FIG0DEDQAQ6N4YE/orly-goldwasser) All 7 people › [**John Coleman Darnell** Egyptologist who, with Deborah Darnell, found the Wadi el-Hol inscriptions in 1993 and led their publication](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/people/FIG0DEDQBZWE1XG/john-coleman-darnell)[**Glenn M. Schwartz** Archaeologist who excavated Umm el-Marra and proposed that its clay cylinders carry alphabetic writing of c. 2400 BC](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/people/FIG0DEDQCEX5A9T/glenn-m-schwartz) Places [All 6](https://mysteriesdept.com/places?mystery=proto-sinaitic) [**Wadi el-Hol, Qena bend** desert pass on the Farshut road](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/places/PLC0DEDPX96CH7T/wadi-el-hol-qena-bend)[**Tel Lachish** Bronze and Iron Age city mound](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/places/PLC0DEDPXDA5SVX/tel-lachish)[**Tell Umm el-Marra, Syria** Early Bronze Age city mound](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/places/PLC0DEDPXNDAVET/tell-umm-el-marra-syria)[**Serabit el-Khadim, Sinai** Egyptian turquoise-mining site and Hathor temple](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/places/PLC0DEDPWXGP98A/serabit-el-khadim-sinai) Concepts [All](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts) [Abjad](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DEEBDB6Z0HG/abjad)[Acrophony](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DEEBCCZWYE4/acrophony)[Decipherment](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW01ZWFP5/decipherment)[Frequency analysis](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECVZZJW77N/frequency-analysis)[Palaeography](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW05E35K0/palaeography)[Syllabary](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW02C55EK/syllabary) Catalog key**MYS** 0DEDPKNZB213 Proto-Sinaitic is the name given to the earliest alphabetic writing: short inscriptions in pictorial signs found at the Egyptian turquoise mines of [Serabit el-Khadim](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/places/PLC0DEDPWXGP98A/serabit-el-khadim-sinai) in Sinai, at [Wadi el-Hol](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/places/PLC0DEDPX96CH7T/wadi-el-hol-qena-bend) on a desert road in Upper Egypt, and at a few other places. [Flinders Petrie](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/people/FIG0DEDQ9EN2J4G/flinders-petrie) found the first group in January 1905 and recognised a new script⁠[[1]]. [Alan Gardiner](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/people/FIG0DEDQ9NR2M42/alan-gardiner) showed in 1916 that the signs are Egyptian hieroglyphic pictures named in a Semitic language, each standing for the first consonant of its name, and read the recurring word b'lt, "Lady"⁠[[2]]. That principle, called [acrophony](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DEEBCCZWYE4/acrophony), makes the script the ancestor of Phoenician, Hebrew, Greek and Latin letters, and it is through those descendants that the values of most signs are known⁠[[3]]. Knowing the letters has not meant reading the texts. About 47 inscriptions from Sinai and two from Wadi el-Hol survive, most of them a few signs long, weathered, and written in no fixed direction⁠[[4]]⁠[[5]]⁠[[6]]. Beyond b'lt, the phrase "to the Lady", and a few names and nouns, every full reading depends on choices that other scholars make differently; [Albright](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/people/FIG0DEDQA1M7YKV/william-f-albright)'s 1966 [decipherment](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW01ZWFP5/decipherment), Puech's 2024 readings of Wadi el-Hol and Wilson-Wright's 2016 reading of Sinai 357 do not agree with one another⁠[[7]]⁠[[8]]⁠[[9]]. The first whole sentence in the descendant Canaanite script, on an ivory comb from Lachish, was read only in 2022⁠[[10]]. Two further disputes surround the texts. The date of the Serabit inscriptions has moved between about 1850 BC and about 1300 BC: Gardiner, [Goldwasser](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/people/FIG0DEDQAQ6N4YE/orly-goldwasser) and Parker argue for the Twelfth Dynasty, Albright for the early New Kingdom, and [Sass](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/people/FIG0DEDQAF6A3S3/benjamin-sass), after 1988, for the thirteenth century⁠[[11]]⁠[[12]]⁠[[13]]. The Wadi el-Hol texts, dated by their Egyptian neighbours to about 1850-1800 BC, and the Lachish sherd, radiocarbon-dated to the fifteenth century BC, rule out the latest dates but do not fix the Sinai ones⁠[[5]]⁠[[14]]. The identity of the inventors is argued between Goldwasser, who sees Canaanite workers who could not read Egyptian, and Rainey and Rollston, who see literate Semites in Egyptian service⁠[[15]]⁠[[16]]. Since 2021 a third claim has been added: that four clay cylinders from a tomb of about 2400 BC at Umm el-Marra in Syria carry alphabetic signs five centuries older than anything in Egypt⁠[[17]]⁠[[18]]. Eight distinct signs are too few to show what kind of writing they are, and specialists are divided⁠[[19]]⁠[[20]]. There is no open digital corpus of the script; the standard catalogues are Sass 1988 and Hamilton 2006, and the images of the West Semitic Research Project are restricted to study use⁠[[11]]⁠[[3]]⁠[[21]]. Of the 7 questions on this site, 0 are answered. ### Key questionsset by the editors [**Are the Umm el-Marra clay cylinders of about 2400 BC alphabetic writing?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/questions/QST0DEDW8MZFBEA/are-the-umm-el-marra-clay-cylinders-of-about-2400-bc)No answer ahead yet [**How many letters did the earliest alphabet have, and which Egyptian signs are their prototypes?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/questions/QST0DEDW8BKH407/how-many-letters-did-the-earliest-alphabet-have-and-which)No answer ahead yet [**What do the Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol inscriptions say?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/questions/QST0DEDW6M9X8F5/what-do-the-proto-sinaitic-and-wadi-el-hol-inscriptions-say)No answer ahead yet [**When were the Serabit el-Khadim inscriptions written: in the Middle Kingdom, about 1850 BC, or in the New Kingdom?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/questions/QST0DEDW70ERVE3/when-were-the-serabit-el-khadim-inscriptions-written-in-the)No answer ahead yet [**Who invented the alphabet, and could they read Egyptian?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/questions/QST0DEDW7RNZZQM/who-invented-the-alphabet-and-could-they-read-egyptian)No answer ahead yet [All 7 questions ](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions?mystery=proto-sinaitic) ### Research sessions1 so far · last 31 Oct `S-001`[Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol seeded: corpus, readings and open data](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/sessions/SES0DEEC4SCCB1B/session-1-proto-sinaitic-and-wadi-el-hol-seeded-corpus) 31 Oct**7** questions raised**17** answers proposedNo question changed standing [All 1 sessions ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/sessions) ## The object The corpus is small and scattered. At Serabit el-Khadim, the Egyptian turquoise-mining site in south-west Sinai, Flinders Petrie found in January 1905 a small sandstone sphinx and a kneeling statuette in the temple of Hathor, and about eight rock-cut tablets above Mine L, all carrying signs that were not Egyptian⁠[[1]]. Later expeditions, above all Kirsopp Lake's Harvard campaigns of 1927, 1930 and 1935, raised the total to roughly forty inscriptions and fragments, numbered Sinai 345 to 375 in the Egypt Exploration Society's catalogue and its continuations⁠[[22]]⁠[[23]]. Recent counts give about 47 texts from Sinai, many only a few signs long, with one more at Timna in the Arabah⁠[[4]]⁠[[24]]. The sphinx (Sinai 345) is in the [British Museum](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/places/PLC0DEDPXWP39SN/british-museum-london); the statuette and most of the removable panels are in the [Egyptian Museum](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/places/PLC0DEDPY0EP8B4/egyptian-museum-cairo-tahrir) in Cairo; the rest remain on the rock⁠[[25]]. In 1993 John and Deborah [Darnell](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/people/FIG0DEDQBZWE1XG/john-coleman-darnell) found two further inscriptions at Wadi el-Hol, a pass on the desert road between Thebes and Abydos, among Egyptian rock inscriptions of the Middle Kingdom. One runs horizontally and one vertically; together they hold about 28 signs⁠[[5]]. They are the only texts in the script found in Egypt proper. The standard catalogue is Sass's 1988 corpus, with a palaeographic table for each letter⁠[[11]]. Hamilton's 2006 monograph is the reference for the sign forms and their Egyptian prototypes⁠[[3]]. The Wadi el-Hol texts were published with photographs and drawings by Darnell, Dobbs-Allsopp, Lundberg, McCarter and Zuckerman in 2005⁠[[5]]. No open digital corpus exists: the photographs of the West Semitic Research Project are for study only, and the IFAO supplementary catalogue of 2012 is in print⁠[[21]]⁠[[26]]. ### Timeline **Timeline** Squeezed where little happened. Each mark is a published claim, by how it stands:AcceptedMost likelyStill possibleDisputedRuled out ## What is known The script is an alphabet in the strict sense of a [consonantal alphabet](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DEEBDB6Z0HG/abjad), or abjad: each sign stands for one consonant and vowels are not written. This much has been accepted since Gardiner's 1916 paper, which observed that the signs are pictures of things whose Semitic names begin with the consonant the sign writes. The ox head is 'alp, so it writes the glottal stop; the house is bayt, so it writes b. Gardiner read the sign group that recurs on four of Petrie's monuments as b-'-l-t, Semitic ba'alat, "Lady", a title of the goddess equated with Hathor, and the preceding sign as l, "to"⁠[[2]]. That reading has held for a century and is the foothold for everything else. The sphinx carries the Egyptian dedication "beloved of Hathor, mistress of turquoise" on one shoulder and a Proto-Sinaitic line with b'lt on the other, which makes it a near-bilingual, though the two texts are not translations of each other⁠[[25]]. The sign inventory is reconstructed at about 27 letters, more than the 22 of Phoenician, because the early script kept consonants that Phoenician later merged, such as the two kinds of h and the sound ghayin⁠[[3]]⁠[[27]]. The letters are the direct ancestors of Phoenician, Hebrew, Greek and Latin letters, which is how their values are known: each sign can be traced forward through the Canaanite inscriptions of the Late Bronze Age to the readable Phoenician alphabet of about 1000 BC⁠[[3]]⁠[[14]]. Direction is not fixed: texts run left to right, right to left and vertically, often in the same place⁠[[6]]. The language is Northwest Semitic, the family of Canaanite, Phoenician and Hebrew, as the letter names and the few secure words show⁠[[2]]⁠[[4]]. Beyond b'lt, the readable material is thin: a handful of personal names, 'l "god" and rb "chief" at Wadi el-Hol, and the formula "to the Lady"⁠[[5]]⁠[[4]]. The first full sentence in the descendant Canaanite script is the seventeen-letter wish against lice on the Lachish ivory comb, read in 2022⁠[[10]]. ## What has been tested Three questions have been tested repeatedly: the date, the inventors, and the readings. On the date, Petrie's c. 1500 BC rested on a potsherd and the stone of the sphinx⁠[[1]]. Gardiner placed the texts under Amenemhat III and IV (1831-1777 BC); Albright moved them to 1525-1475 BC on palaeographic grounds⁠[[7]]⁠[[4]]. Sass argued for the Middle Kingdom in 1988 and then, in 2004-2005, for a date around 1300 BC⁠[[11]]⁠[[12]]. The Wadi el-Hol texts, dated by the Egyptian inscriptions around them to about 1850-1800 BC, and the Lachish sherd, radiocarbon-dated to the 15th century BC, make a 13th-century invention impossible, though they do not by themselves date the Serabit texts⁠[[5]]⁠[[14]]. Parker's re-examination of the find spots at Serabit (2022, 2026) argues for the reign of Senwosret III and finds the New Kingdom arguments weak⁠[[13]]⁠[[28]]. Haring, an Egyptologist, calls the Twelfth Dynasty case strong but not closed⁠[[29]]. On the inventors, Goldwasser argued in 2006 that Canaanite workers who could not read Egyptian took hieroglyphic pictures and named them in their own language, which explains why Egyptian sound values were ignored and why several look-alike hieroglyphs serve one Semitic letter⁠[[15]]⁠[[30]]. Rainey and Rollston answered that writing was an elite skill and that the inventors knew Egyptian script⁠[[31]]⁠[[16]]. Hamilton's catalogue finds hieratic as well as hieroglyphic prototypes, which would require some scribal knowledge⁠[[3]]. Sanders and Wilson-Wright side with invention at the margins, citing the Cherokee and Hmong scripts as cases of pre-literate inventors⁠[[32]]⁠[[4]]. Colless holds that the alphabet was simplified from the undeciphered Byblos [syllabary](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW02C55EK/syllabary)⁠[[33]]. On readings, Albright's 1966 decipherment gave values for 23 letters and translations of most texts as votive formulae; the values are largely accepted, the translations largely not⁠[[7]]. Later whole-text readings by Puech, Wilson-Wright and others disagree with one another⁠[[8]]⁠[[9]]. No statistical or machine-learning study of the corpus has been published; the texts are too short and too few for [frequency analysis](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECVZZJW77N/frequency-analysis) to decide anything. ## The readings Four positions are live on what the texts say. The first, held by most epigraphers, is that the inscriptions are short Northwest Semitic votive texts and names: dedications "to the Lady" at the temple, and names or pleas of workers at the mines. It rests on b'lt, on the sphinx's Egyptian parallel, and on the find spots⁠[[2]]⁠[[25]]. Wilson-Wright's reading of Sinai 357 as a votive text to the Hurrian storm god Teššob is an example of this position pushed to a whole text⁠[[9]]. The second position is that most of the texts cannot be read at all with present evidence: beyond b'lt and a few words, every full reading depends on choices of direction, word division and damaged signs that another reader can make differently, which is why Albright's, Puech's and Wilson-Wright's readings of the same stones diverge⁠[[7]]⁠[[8]]⁠[[29]]. On this view the Sinai corpus will remain a sign list with a handful of words unless longer texts are found. The third, Petrovich's claim that the texts are Hebrew and name biblical figures, has been rejected by specialists because it assigns values not supported by the descendant scripts and assumes a Hebrew distinct from Canaanite a millennium before it is attested⁠[[34]]⁠[[4]]. A fourth question sits beside these: whether the Umm el-Marra cylinders of about 2400 BC are alphabetic at all. [Schwartz](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/people/FIG0DEDQCEX5A9T/glenn-m-schwartz) reads their twelve signs (eight distinct) as early alphabetic letters; Rollston agrees the shapes match; Steele objects that eight signs cannot show what kind of system they belong to, and that a 500-year gap separates them from the next evidence⁠[[17]]⁠[[20]]⁠[[19]]. Richey takes the cylinders and the alphabetic marks on Sealand-dynasty tablets as signs of a northern strand in the alphabet's history⁠[[18]]. ### Published claims **Published claims and their status** | Year | Who | Claimed | Status | Reason | |---|---|---|---|---| | 1906 | Flinders Petrie⁠[1] | The Serabit signs are a new alphabet of about 1500 BC, written left to right, from a Mediterranean signary older than Phoenician. | Ruled out | Gardiner showed the letters are hieroglyphs named in Semitic, and the texts run in more than one direction⁠[2]⁠[6] | | 1916 | Alan Gardiner⁠[2] | The signs are acrophonic: hieroglyphic pictures named in Semitic, each writing the first consonant of its name; the recurring group reads b'lt, "Lady". | Accepted | The reading fits the sphinx's Egyptian dedication to Hathor and the letters' descendants in Phoenician⁠[25]⁠[3] | | 1966 | William Albright⁠[7] | Twenty-three of a probable twenty-seven letters can be identified and most texts read as votive formulae of about 1525-1475 BC. | Disputed | The letter values are largely accepted, but the full readings and the date are not followed by later editors⁠[11]⁠[4] | | 1988 | Benjamin Sass⁠[11] | The corpus and its palaeography place the Serabit inscriptions in the Middle Kingdom. | Still possible | Sass himself reversed the date in 2004-2005, but Parker's re-examination of the find spots supports the Middle Kingdom⁠[12]⁠[13] | | 2005 | Benjamin Sass⁠[12] | The alphabet was invented much later than 1850 BC, around 1300 BC, and the Serabit texts are New Kingdom. | Ruled out | The Lachish sherd is radiocarbon-dated to the 15th century BC and the Wadi el-Hol texts are Middle Kingdom, so the alphabet existed well before 1300 BC⁠[14]⁠[5] | | 2005 | John Darnell and colleagues⁠[5] | The two Wadi el-Hol texts are early alphabetic and date to about 1850-1800 BC from the Egyptian inscriptions around them. | Accepted | The Egyptian context is accepted; only the readings of the texts are disputed⁠[29]⁠[8] | | 2006 | Gordon Hamilton⁠[3] | Each letter derives from an identifiable hieroglyphic or hieratic prototype, and the script was used at Serabit over several centuries. | Still possible | The catalogue is the standard reference, but the hieratic prototypes and the long span are questioned by Goldwasser and Parker⁠[30]⁠[28] | | 2006 | Orly Goldwasser⁠[15] | Canaanite workers who could not read Egyptian invented the alphabet at Serabit under Amenemhat III by naming hieroglyphic pictures in their own language. | Still possible | It explains the ignored Egyptian sound values and the choice of signs, but the place of invention and the inventors' literacy cannot be shown directly⁠[32]⁠[16] | | 2010 | Christopher Rollston⁠[16] | The inventors were Semites of some status who knew Egyptian writing and worked within the Egyptian administration. | Still possible | Writing was an elite skill in the Bronze Age, but no cursive or administrative alphabetic text of the period exists to show scribal use⁠[31]⁠[30] | | 2014 | Brian Colless⁠[33] | The alphabet was simplified from the Byblos syllabary, not invented from hieroglyphs by illiterates. | Disputed | The Byblos syllabary is itself undeciphered and undated, and most epigraphers see it as a sister script rather than an ancestor⁠[4]⁠[36] | | 2016 | Aren Wilson-Wright⁠[9] | Sinai 357 is a votive inscription to the storm god Teššob. | Still possible | It is a complete reading of one text, but other readers divide and read the same signs differently⁠[8]⁠[7] | | 2016 | Douglas Petrovich⁠[34] | The texts are Hebrew and name figures known from the Bible. | Ruled out | The readings need sign values unsupported by the descendant scripts and a Hebrew not attested until a thousand years later⁠[4] | | 2021 | Felix Höflmayer and colleagues⁠[14] | A six-letter ink inscription from Lachish dates to about 1460-1430 BC and links the Sinai texts to the later Canaanite corpus. | Accepted | The date comes from Bayesian modelling of radiocarbon samples in the sealed stratum; only the readings of the letters are tentative⁠[14] | | 2021 | Glenn Schwartz⁠[17] | The four Umm el-Marra cylinders of about 2400 BC carry early alphabetic writing. | Still possible | The sign shapes resemble alphabetic letters, but eight distinct signs cannot show the type of system and nothing comparable is known for 500 years⁠[19]⁠[20] | | 2022 | Daniel Vainstub and colleagues⁠[10] | The Lachish ivory comb carries a seventeen-letter Canaanite sentence wishing that the comb root out lice. | Accepted | The reading is accepted as the first full sentence in the script, but the comb has no stratigraphic date and is placed at c. 1700 BC on letter forms alone⁠[10] | | 2023 | Heather Parker⁠[13] | The find spots at Serabit place the inscriptions in the reign of Senwosret III or soon after, and the New Kingdom arguments do not hold. | Still possible | It is the first archaeological re-examination of the contexts, but no stratified find yet dates an inscription directly⁠[28] | ## What would settle it The date of the Serabit texts would be settled by stratified finds: an inscription sealed under a datable Egyptian deposit, or ceramic and radiocarbon evidence from the debris at Mines L and M, which Parker's work shows has never been systematically examined⁠[[13]]. A new excavation permit for the plateau would be needed. The readings would be settled by a longer text or a true bilingual. The sphinx is the closest thing to a bilingual and gives only one word. A text of thirty or more signs in a secure context, or an abecedary (a list of the letters in order) from the Middle Bronze Age, would fix the sign count and the order, as the TT99 ostracon and the Ugaritic abecedaries do for the later alphabet⁠[[35]]. Reflectance transformation imaging and photogrammetry of the rock panels, which have weathered since 1905, would at least fix the sign counts; the 2005 Wadi el-Hol edition shows what such documentation can do⁠[[5]]. The inventors' literacy would be tested by the prototypes: if every letter can be derived from a hieroglyphic picture as seen on monuments and none requires a hieratic (cursive) form, Goldwasser's case is strengthened; if some letters demand hieratic models, as Hamilton holds, the inventors had scribal contact⁠[[30]]⁠[[3]]. A sign-by-sign test against dated hieratic and hieroglyphic [palaeography](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW05E35K0/palaeography) is possible now with published material. Umm el-Marra would be settled by more inscribed objects from third-millennium Syria, preferably longer than four signs, and by a published radiocarbon series for Tomb 4⁠[[20]]⁠[[19]]. ## Questions 0 of 7 questions are answered. **Key questions** [All 7](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions?mystery=proto-sinaitic) **0** [Are the Umm el-Marra clay cylinders of about 2400 BC alphabetic writing?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/questions/QST0DEDW8MZFBEA/are-the-umm-el-marra-clay-cylinders-of-about-2400-bc) 0 of 0 sub-questions answered·0 Open: 3 answers, none ahead **0** [How many letters did the earliest alphabet have, and which Egyptian signs are their prototypes?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/questions/QST0DEDW8BKH407/how-many-letters-did-the-earliest-alphabet-have-and-which) 0 of 0 sub-questions answered·0 Open: 2 answers, none ahead **0** [What do the Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol inscriptions say?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/questions/QST0DEDW6M9X8F5/what-do-the-proto-sinaitic-and-wadi-el-hol-inscriptions-say) 0 of 1 sub-questions answered·0 Open: 4 answers, none ahead **0** [When were the Serabit el-Khadim inscriptions written: in the Middle Kingdom, about 1850 BC, or in the New Kingdom?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/questions/QST0DEDW70ERVE3/when-were-the-serabit-el-khadim-inscriptions-written-in-the) 0 of 0 sub-questions answered·0 Open: 4 answers, none ahead **0** [Who invented the alphabet, and could they read Egyptian?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/questions/QST0DEDW7RNZZQM/who-invented-the-alphabet-and-could-they-read-egyptian) 0 of 1 sub-questions answered·0 Open: 4 answers, none ahead ## Evidence 21 findings [What do the Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol inscriptions say?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/questions/QST0DEDW6M9X8F5/what-do-the-proto-sinaitic-and-wadi-el-hol-inscriptions-say)5 findings [Short Northwest Semitic votive texts and names, partly readable](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/answers/ANS0DEDXKCP65MV/short-northwest-semitic-votive-texts-and-names-partly)Still possible +[The recurring sign group reads b'lt, "Lady", by acrophonic values, and sits on a sphinx whose Egyptian text is a dedication to Hathor, the goddess Baalat was equated with.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEE968TSG59/the-recurring-sign-group-reads-blt-lady-by-acrophonic-values)Established +[The descendant Canaanite script wrote ordinary Northwest Semitic sentences, as the seventeen-letter wish against lice on the Lachish ivory comb shows.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEE96H241Z2/the-descendant-canaanite-script-wrote-ordinary-northwest)Supported [Unreadable beyond a few words with present evidence](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/answers/ANS0DEDXKM3WAAA/unreadable-beyond-a-few-words-with-present-evidence)Still possible +[Full readings of the same Sinai and Wadi el-Hol texts by Albright, Wilson-Wright and Puech disagree with one another, and a 2025 Egyptological survey still calls the Wadi el-Hol texts undeciphered.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEE96S52CS7/full-readings-of-the-same-sinai-and-wadi-el-hol-texts-by)Supported [Hebrew texts naming biblical figures (Petrovich)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/answers/ANS0DEDXKS1R2QP/hebrew-texts-naming-biblical-figures-petrovich)Still possible −[The Hebrew readings require sign values the descendant scripts do not support and a Hebrew distinct from Canaanite about a thousand years before Hebrew is attested.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEE9705MWHB/the-hebrew-readings-require-sign-values-the-descendant)Supported [None of these.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/answers/ANS0DEDXM1AWGCT/none-of-these)Still possible −[Every secure word in the corpus (b'lt, l "to", 'l "god", rb "chief") is Northwest Semitic, and the descendant script writes Canaanite sentences.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEEA2P825X3/every-secure-word-in-the-corpus-blt-l-to-l-god-rb-chief-is)Supported [When were the Serabit el-Khadim inscriptions written: in the Middle Kingdom, about 1850 BC, or in the New Kingdom?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/questions/QST0DEDW70ERVE3/when-were-the-serabit-el-khadim-inscriptions-written-in-the)5 findings [Middle Kingdom, c. 1850-1800 BC](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/answers/ANS0DEDXXCK1RS5/middle-kingdom-c-1850-1800-bc)Still possible +[The Wadi el-Hol inscriptions, in the same script, sit among Egyptian inscriptions of the late Twelfth Dynasty, so the alphabet existed about 1850-1800 BC.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEE97CKFCYT/the-wadi-el-hol-inscriptions-in-the-same-script-sit-among)Supported +[Parker's re-examination of the find spots at Serabit against the mining history places the inscriptions in the reign of Senwosret III or soon after, and finds the New Kingdom arguments weak.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEE97TQD006/parkers-re-examination-of-the-find-spots-at-serabit-against)Suggestive [Early New Kingdom, c. 1550-1450 BC](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/answers/ANS0DEDXXM9QW28/early-new-kingdom-c-1550-1450-bc)Still possible +[Petrie found a Thutmose III-period potsherd at Mine L and the statuette at a Hatshepsut-period shrine, and Albright's palaeographic sequence placed the texts at 1525-1475 BC.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEEAABC7Y8G/petrie-found-a-thutmose-iii-period-potsherd-at-mine-l-and)Suggestive −[Parker's 2026 review finds the New Kingdom evidence at Serabit, chiefly two sherds from Mine L, weak, and evidence for Semitic speakers on New Kingdom expeditions very thin.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEEAHKG0DSY/parkers-2026-review-finds-the-new-kingdom-evidence-at)Suggestive [Late New Kingdom, c. 1300 BC (Sass 2005)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/answers/ANS0DEDXXT0J9E1/late-new-kingdom-c-1300-bc-sass-2005)Still possible −[An alphabetic ink inscription from Lachish comes from a stratum radiocarbon-dated to about 1460-1430 BC, so alphabetic writing existed well before 1300 BC.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEEAPTZ8456/an-alphabetic-ink-inscription-from-lachish-comes-from-a)Established [Who invented the alphabet, and could they read Egyptian?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/questions/QST0DEDW7RNZZQM/who-invented-the-alphabet-and-could-they-read-egyptian)5 findings [Non-literate Canaanite workers (Goldwasser)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/answers/ANS0DEDY8E0R19P/non-literate-canaanite-workers-goldwasser)Still possible +[The script ignores Egyptian sound values and the Egyptian uniconsonantal signs, and uses several look-alike hieroglyphs for one letter, which fits inventors who saw pictures rather than read them.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEEARRD3VH3/the-script-ignores-egyptian-sound-values-and-the-egyptian)Suggestive −[Hamilton's catalogue derives some letters from hieratic forms, which only trained scribes used.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEEASG8B77N/hamiltons-catalogue-derives-some-letters-from-hieratic-forms)Suggestive [Literate Semites in Egyptian service (Rainey, Rollston, Hamilton)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/answers/ANS0DEDY8ZN88Z3/literate-semites-in-egyptian-service-rainey-rollston)Still possible +[Writing in the Bronze Age was a skill of trained elites, and the Wadi el-Hol texts sit beside Egyptian inscriptions of organised expeditions that included Asiatics under an Egyptian commander.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEEATHYMEKG/writing-in-the-bronze-age-was-a-skill-of-trained-elites-and)Suggestive −[No cursive, papyrus or administrative alphabetic text of the Middle Kingdom or early New Kingdom has been found; the early texts are votive graffiti and names.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEEAVGEC6RA/no-cursive-papyrus-or-administrative-alphabetic-text-of-the)Suggestive [Simplified from the Byblos syllabary (Colless)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/answers/ANS0DEDY98Z411M/simplified-from-the-byblos-syllabary-colless)Still possible −[The Byblos inscriptions have no secure archaeological date and may be Iron Age, eight alphabetic letters have no Byblos counterpart, and the Byblos script is itself undeciphered.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEEAWATAYJG/the-byblos-inscriptions-have-no-secure-archaeological-date)Suggestive [How many letters did the earliest alphabet have, and which Egyptian signs are their prototypes?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/questions/QST0DEDW8BKH407/how-many-letters-did-the-earliest-alphabet-have-and-which)3 findings [About 27 letters with Egyptian prototypes (Albright, Hamilton)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/answers/ANS0DEDYQ73G7Y9/about-27-letters-with-egyptian-prototypes-albright-hamilton)Still possible +[Albright identified 23 of a probable 27 letters, Hamilton gives each an Egyptian prototype, and a Wadi el-Hol sign has been argued to write ghayin, a consonant Phoenician later merged.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEEB4AEFYMB/albright-identified-23-of-a-probable-27-letters-hamilton)Supported +[A 15th-century hieratic ostracon from Theban Tomb 99 preserves the h-l-h-m letter order of the longer South Semitic alphabet, showing an order for a fuller consonant set existed early.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEEB57EH5CM/a-15th-century-hieratic-ostracon-from-theban-tomb-99)Suggestive [None of these.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/answers/ANS0DEDYQK49F4J/none-of-these)Still possible +[Several different hieroglyphs serve as a single letter in the early texts, which fits an inventory that was not yet standardised.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEEB5M5CFQS/several-different-hieroglyphs-serve-as-a-single-letter-in)Speculative [Are the Umm el-Marra clay cylinders of about 2400 BC alphabetic writing?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/questions/QST0DEDW8MZFBEA/are-the-umm-el-marra-clay-cylinders-of-about-2400-bc)3 findings [Alphabetic writing of c. 2400 BC (Schwartz)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/answers/ANS0DEDYNPG321Z/alphabetic-writing-of-c-2400-bc-schwartz)Still possible +[The cylinder signs resemble Early Alphabetic letter forms, and their position on the tomb floor under collapsed mudbrick argues against intrusion from a later period.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEEAYVVG4DQ/the-cylinder-signs-resemble-early-alphabetic-letter-forms)Suggestive −[Twelve signs of eight shapes cannot show whether a system is alphabetic, and nothing comparable is known for the next 500 years.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEEB12E7SF2/twelve-signs-of-eight-shapes-cannot-show-whether-a-system-is)Suggestive [Marks or a local notation, not an alphabet](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/answers/ANS0DEDYP432ZQ6/marks-or-a-local-notation-not-an-alphabet)Still possible +[Sign-like marks used without being writing are common in the region, and the cylinder sequences correspond to no known language.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEEB20JT663/sign-like-marks-used-without-being-writing-are-common-in-the)Suggestive ## Artifacts The films, photos, papers and objects this mystery rests on, each with its own key and its distance from the original. **Artifacts** Photo1 step from object [The Serabit sphinx, Sinai 345 (British Museum EA41748)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/artifacts/ART0DEDT52F96KY/the-serabit-sphinx-sinai-345-british-museum-ea41748) Petrie, W. M. Flinders · Public domain Photo1 step from object [The Serabit statuette, Sinai 346 (Egyptian Museum JE 38268)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/artifacts/ART0DEDT5JARJQ1/the-serabit-statuette-sinai-346-egyptian-museum-je-38268) Petrie, W. M. Flinders · Public domain Document1 step from object [The Serabit rock inscriptions at Mines L and M (Sinai 349 to 375)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/artifacts/ART0DEDT6E9273H/the-serabit-rock-inscriptions-at-mines-l-and-m-sinai-349-to) Egyptian Museum, Cairo (JE 51513-51517, 52510-52516, 65466-65467) and in situ Document1 step from object [The two Wadi el-Hol inscriptions](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/artifacts/ART0DEDT6X8ASZB/the-two-wadi-el-hol-inscriptions) Darnell, J. C. and others · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Scan1 step from object [The Lachish early alphabetic texts: the 2018 bowl sherd and the ivory comb](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/artifacts/ART0DEDT7ARBYRC/the-lachish-early-alphabetic-texts-the-2018-bowl-sherd-and) Höflmayer, Misgav, Webster and Streit · CC BY 4.0 Document1 step from object [The Umm el-Marra inscribed clay cylinders](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/artifacts/ART0DEDT7N59F26/the-umm-el-marra-inscribed-clay-cylinders) Syrian Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums (location not published) ## See also [ **Byblos syllabary** About fourteen inscriptions from Byblos, 1,046 signs in an unknown syllabary, with no bilingual, no agreed date and no accepted reading. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary) [ **Cypro-Minoan** The undeciphered script of Late Bronze Age Cyprus, used from about 1550 to 1050 BC. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/cypro-minoan) [ **Etruscan: the readable language that cannot be fully translated** An alphabet everyone can read, 13,000 inscriptions, about 250 understood words, and four long texts that still will not translate. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/etruscan-language) [ **Proto-cuneiform: the archaic texts of Uruk** The oldest writing, 3350 to 3000 BC: numbers and goods are read, the language is not. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-cuneiform) ## References 1. 1.[London: John Murray. First publication of the Serabit el-Khadim "new alphabet" (pp. 129-132, figs 138-141): the statuette and sphinx from the temple and about eight tablets at Mine L; Petrie's left-to-right reading and c. 1500 BC date. Public-domain scan on the Internet Archive.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHGPCAVPJ/researches-in-sinai)cited 11 times here**SRC** 0DEDHGPCAVPJ 1. 2.[Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 3(1): 1-16. The founding reading: the recurring group of signs read acrophonically as b-'-l-t, "Lady" (Baalat), and the argument that the signs are hieroglyphs given Semitic letter names.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHH33XVG5/the-egyptian-origin-of-the-semitic-alphabet)[doi](https://doi.org/10.2307/3853586)cited 9 times here**SRC** 0DEDHH33XVG5 1. 3.[Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series 40, Washington DC. The letter-by-letter catalogue of early alphabetic sign forms matched to hieroglyphic and hieratic prototypes; the reference sign catalogue for the script.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHWQG7RQQ/the-origins-of-the-west-semitic-alphabet-in-egyptian-scripts)cited 8 times here**SRC** 0DEDHWQG7RQQ 1. 4.[The Bible and Interpretation, November 2019. A review of the evidence (about 47 Serabit texts, 2 at Wadi el-Hol) and of the dating positions, with replies to Holmstedt's Byblos theory, Petrovich's Hebrew reading and LeBlanc; proposes Avaris as the place of invention.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJB27NQRV/on-the-origin-of-alphabetic-writing)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDJB27NQRV 1. 5.[Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research 59: 63-124. The full publication of the two Wadi el-Hol inscriptions with photographs, drawings, sign-by-sign discussion and the Middle Kingdom (c. 1850-1800 BC) dating from the surrounding Egyptian inscriptions.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHW700H66/two-early-alphabetic-inscriptions-from-the-wadi-el-hol-new)cited 10 times here**SRC** 0DEDHW700H66 1. 6.[Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society 36: 28-47. Argues that early alphabetic writing had no fixed direction and that the later right-to-left convention came from hieratic practice; by a co-author of the Wadi el-Hol edition.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDK59WND3Y/on-hieratic-and-the-direction-of-alphabetic-writing)cited 1 time here**SRC** 0DEDK59WND3Y 1. 7.[Harvard Theological Studies 22, Harvard University Press. Albright's full decipherment: 23 of a probable 27 letters identified, texts dated c. 1525-1475 BC, readings of votive formulae to Baalat; the readings beyond b'lt are mostly not accepted today.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHK7BXY9J/the-proto-sinaitic-inscriptions-and-their-decipherment)cited 7 times here**SRC** 0DEDHK7BXY9J 1. 8.[Revue Biblique 131(1): 5-23. The most recent full attempt to read both Wadi el-Hol inscriptions; one of several incompatible readings, none accepted as established.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKFVYSQQ0/inscriptions-alphabetiques-du-ouadi-el-hol)[doi](https://doi.org/10.2143/RBI.131.1.3292592)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDKFVYSQQ0 1. 9.[Journal of the American Oriental Society 136(2): 247-263. A full reading of one of the longer rock inscriptions as a votive text to the Hurrian storm god; an example of the kind of whole-text reading that remains contested.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJA5QF1WX/sinai-357-a-northwest-semitic-votive-inscription-to-tessob)[doi](https://doi.org/10.7817/jameroriesoci.136.2.247)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDJA5QF1WX 1. 10.[Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology 2: 76-119. Seventeen letters in seven words on an ivory comb, read as a wish that the comb root out lice; the first full sentence in the early Canaanite alphabet, dated on letter forms to about 1700 BC (no stratigraphic date).](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJD8RMCGG/a-canaanites-wish-to-eradicate-lice-on-an-inscribed-ivory)[doi](https://doi.org/10.52486/01.00002.4)cited 5 times here**SRC** 0DEDJD8RMCGG 1. 11.[Ägypten und Altes Testament 13, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. The standard corpus catalogue of the Proto-Sinaitic and Proto-Canaanite inscriptions with a sign-by-sign palaeography; argued for a Middle Kingdom date, a position Sass himself later abandoned.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHKE2Y383/the-genesis-of-the-alphabet-and-its-development-in-the)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDHKE2Y383 1. 12.[Tel Aviv University Institute of Archaeology Occasional Publications 4. Sass's revised, low chronology: he now puts the Serabit inscriptions in the New Kingdom and the invention of the alphabet far later than in 1988; the "Twenty Years Later" article (De Kemi a Birit Nari 2, 2004-05, 137-156) states the same reversal.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHVZV38QP/the-alphabet-at-the-turn-of-the-millennium-the-west-semitic)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDHVZV38QP 1. 13.[Ägypten und Levante 32 (2022): 269-311. Re-examines the find spots of the Serabit inscriptions against the mining history and argues for a Middle Kingdom date, in the reign of Senwosret III or soon after.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDK3SZKBD9/the-proto-sinaitic-inscriptions-at-serabit-el-khadim-in)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1553/aeundl32s269)cited 5 times here**SRC** 0DEDK3SZKBD9 1. 14.[Antiquity 95(381): 705-719, open access (CC BY 4.0). An ink inscription on a Cypriot bowl sherd from Lachish, radiocarbon-dated by Bayesian modelling to about 1460-1430 BC; the oldest securely dated alphabetic text from the Levant.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJBQ3YBSS/early-alphabetic-writing-in-the-ancient-near-east-the)[doi](https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2020.157)cited 7 times here**SRC** 0DEDJBQ3YBSS 1. 15.[Ägypten und Levante 16: 121-160. The full statement of the thesis that Canaanite workers who could not read Egyptian invented the alphabet at Serabit el-Khadim in the late Middle Kingdom by naming hieroglyphic pictures in their own language.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHWX0987P/canaanites-reading-hieroglyphs-horus-is-hathor-the-invention)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1553/AEundL16s121)cited 6 times here**SRC** 0DEDHWX0987P 1. 16.[Rollston Epigraphy (also carried on the ASOR blog), 2010. The counter-position to Goldwasser: writing in the Bronze Age was an elite skill, so the inventors were Semites who knew Egyptian writing and worked within the Egyptian administration; answered by Goldwasser 2012.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDMFHMXVQQ/the-probable-inventors-of-the-first-alphabet-semites)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDMFHMXVQQ 1. 17.[Pasiphae 15. Schwartz's argument that the cylinder signs are best compared with early alphabetic letters, with tentative values (about seven sounds) and a cautious conclusion; the claim was restated more firmly at the ASOR meeting in November 2024.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJPDYSZQF/non-cuneiform-writing-at-third-millennium-umm-el-marra-syria)[doi](https://doi.org/10.19272/202133301018)cited 7 times here**SRC** 0DEDJPDYSZQF 1. 18.[Maarav 27: 1-38. Argues from the Umm el-Marra cylinders and the alphabetic signs on Sealand-dynasty cuneiform tablets that the alphabet's early history was not confined to Egypt and may have a northern Levantine strand.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJQ3TWGYG/syria-mesopotamia-and-the-origins-of-the-alphabet)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1086/727576)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDJQ3TWGYG 1. 19.[22 November 2024 report on Schwartz's ASOR presentation, with the radiocarbon date of about 2400 BC and the reactions of Philippa Steele (too few signs to know the system; resemblance may be coincidental), Silvia Ferrara and Christopher Rollston.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJQ9VP421/worlds-oldest-alphabet-found-on-an-ancient-clay-gift-tag)cited 5 times here**SRC** 0DEDJQ9VP421 1. 20.[Rollston Epigraphy, April 2021. An epigrapher's assessment: the signs look early alphabetic, the readings (roughly k'y and wn'ls) are tentative, the find spot on the tomb floor argues against intrusion, and longer texts are needed. Rollston was on the excavation staff.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJPS7A1RQ/tell-umm-el-marra-syria-and-early-alphabetic-in-the-third)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDJPS7A1RQ 1. 21.[The image archive of the project that photographed the Wadi el-Hol inscriptions for the 2005 edition; InscriptiFact is closed and its Early Alphabetic images are now in the USC Digital Library, for study use only.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKGENGM8N/images-in-the-wsr-inscriptifact-collection)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDKGENGM8N 1. 22.[Egypt Exploration Fund Memoir 36. The plate volume that gives the Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions their "Sinai" numbers (345 onwards) alongside the Egyptian inscriptions of the mines; public-domain scan on the Internet Archive.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHJABP9KX/the-inscriptions-of-sinai-part-i-introduction-and-plates)cited 5 times here**SRC** 0DEDHJABP9KX 1. 23.[Harvard Theological Review 25(2): 130-203. Publication of the Harvard expeditions' finds (1927, 1930) with readings; the main corpus edition between Gardiner and Albright.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHJX9VKRY/the-protosinaitic-inscriptions)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1017/S0017816000001231)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDHJX9VKRY 1. 24.[Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 2(2): 1-12. A rock inscription in the Timna copper-mining district, the first Proto-Sinaitic text found outside Sinai and Egypt, in an Egyptian mining context of the New Kingdom.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDK7XANGTF/a-proto-sinaitic-inscription-in-timna-israel-new-evidence-on)[doi](https://doi.org/10.2458/azu_jaei_v02i2_wimmer)cited 1 time here**SRC** 0DEDK7XANGTF 1. 25.[Collection record: sandstone sphinx, 15.4 x 23 x 10 cm, from the Hathor temple at Serabit el-Khadim, acquired 1905; hieroglyphic text "beloved of Hathor, mistress of turquoise" on the right shoulder, Proto-Sinaitic on the left shoulder and base; now dated c. 1800 BC.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDK75H9A7E/sphinx-statuette-with-egyptian-and-proto-sinaitic)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDK75H9A7E 1. 26.[Critical bibliography and introduction to the script maintained by the Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa; lists Dalix 2012 (IFAO supplementary catalogue), Morenz 2019, Haring 2020 and Rollston 2020 among the later literature.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKG7B61HA/proto-sinaitic-18th-14th-cent-b-c-bibliography)cited 1 time here**SRC** 0DEDKG7B61HA 1. 27.[Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel 2: 125-135. Proposes that a sign in the second Wadi el-Hol inscription writes the consonant ghayin, which Phoenician later merged with ayin; an example of how the sign count of the early alphabet is argued.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDKG38SA0K/wadi-el-hol-inscription-2-and-the-early-semitic-alphabetic)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1628/219222713x13757034787711)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0DEDKG38SA0K 1. 28.[Ägypten und Levante 35: 271-288. Reviews the New Kingdom dating arguments (two New Kingdom sherds at Mine L, Sass's c. 1300 BC redating, Hamilton's six-century span) and finds them weak.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDK4JN07JR/the-proto-sinaitic-inscriptions-at-serabit-el-khadim-in)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1553/aeundl35s271)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDK4JN07JR 1. 29.[In G. Kim and H. Kim (eds), The Dawn of Writing Systems, Incheon: National Museum of World Writing Systems, 239-254; open copy in the Leiden repository. A current Egyptological summary: the Wadi el-Hol texts remain unread, the Twelfth Dynasty date is strong but not certain, and Egyptian uniconsonantal signs are a conceptual source.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDK30BF9Y0/the-egyptian-background-of-early-alphabetic-writing)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0DEDK30BF9Y0 1. 30.[Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 4(3): 9-22. Goldwasser's reply to Rollston's argument that the inventors were literate, high-status Semites in Egyptian service: the sign choices, the absence of hieratic forms and the absence of Egyptian sound values point to people who could not read Egyptian.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJ6H344AD/the-miners-who-invented-the-alphabet-a-response-to)[doi](https://doi.org/10.2458/azu_jaei_v04i3_goldwasser)cited 7 times here**SRC** 0DEDJ6H344AD 1. 31.[Bible History Daily, 25 August 2010. Records Rainey's objection (a literate inventor who knew hieratic, cursive texts on lost papyri) and Goldwasser's answer (no cursive alphabetic text exists; sign choices reflect desert life; the motive was religious, not administrative).](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJ9CFNGMD/goldwassers-first-rebuttal-to-anson-rainey-who-really)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDJ9CFNGMD 1. 32.[The Ancient Near East Today 11(8), ASOR, August 2023. Summarises the elite-versus-margins debate (Rainey, Rollston, Goldwasser) and argues from the visual, non-phonetic borrowing of signs and the irregular directions that the alphabet arose outside scribal training.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDK6BTZ8SE/who-really-invented-the-alphabet)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDK6BTZ8SE 1. 33.[Antiguo Oriente 12: 71-104. Open-access statement of Colless's position: the proto-alphabet is a simplification of the Byblos (West Semitic) syllabary, 18 of 22 Phoenician letters have a syllabary ancestor, and Mendenhall's decipherment is defended.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDG4C61RR1/the-origin-of-the-alphabet-an-examination-of-the-goldwasser)cited 7 times here**SRC** 0DEDG4C61RR1 1. 34.[Jerusalem: Carta. Reads the Sinai and Egyptian inscriptions as Hebrew with biblical names; rejected by specialists (Wilson-Wright 2019 and others) because the readings require invented sign values and a Hebrew distinct from Canaanite that is not attested so early. URL is a published review (Brumwell, Downside Review 136, 2018).](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDMG48ZSV8/the-worlds-oldest-alphabet-hebrew-as-the-language-of-the)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDMG48ZSV8 1. 35.[Journal of Near Eastern Studies 74(2): 189-196. A hieratic ostracon from Theban Tomb 99 (15th century BC) whose words begin with the sounds h, l, ḥ, m: the earliest evidence of the South Semitic letter order, written by an Egyptian scribe.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJQYGSVB7/halaham-on-an-ostracon-of-the-early-new-kingdom)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1086/682330)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0DEDJQYGSVB7 1. 36.[In P. Abrahami and L. Battini (eds), Cultures et sociétés syro-mésopotamiennes: Mélanges offerts à Olivier Rouault, Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 157-180. Argues that no inscription has a secure context and that affinities with ninth-century Byblian alphabetic inscriptions point to an Iron Age date (c. 900-830 BC) rather than the Middle Bronze Age.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDGEWRK5S4/the-pseudo-hieroglyphic-inscriptions-from-byblos-their)cited 12 times here**SRC** 0DEDGEWRK5S4 Last edited 31 Oct 2026