# The Umm el-Marra inscribed clay cylinders

> Four finger-sized, perforated clay cylinders from Tomb 4 of the Early Bronze IVA mortuary complex at Umm el-Marra, excavated in 2004, incised with twelve…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/artifacts/ART0DEDT7N59F26/the-umm-el-marra-inscribed-clay-cylinders  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Mysteries](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries)[Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic)[Artifacts](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic#artifacts)The Umm el-Marra inscribed clay cylinders

**ART** 0DEDT7N59F26·Artifact · object

# The Umm el-Marra inscribed clay cylinders

ObjectC. 2450-2300 BC (pottery parallels with Ebla Palace G and radiocarbon)

[Cite]

Four finger-sized, perforated clay cylinders from Tomb 4 of the Early Bronze IVA mortuary complex at Umm el-Marra, excavated in 2004, incised with twelve signs of which eight are distinct. Schwartz reads them as early alphabetic letters, tentatively k'y and wn'ls; others hold that so few signs cannot show what kind of writing they are. Their present whereabouts after the Syrian war are not published.

## Copies 0

## Sources 4

- [Early Non-Cuneiform Writing? Third-Millennium BC Clay Cylinders from Umm el-Marra](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJP7MYCQW/early-non-cuneiform-writing-third-millennium-bc-clay)_SRC_
- [Non-cuneiform writing at third-millennium Umm el-Marra, Syria: Evidence of an early alphabetic tradition?](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJPDYSZQF/non-cuneiform-writing-at-third-millennium-umm-el-marra-syria)_SRC_
- [Tell Umm el-Marra (Syria) and Early Alphabetic in the Third Millennium: Four Inscribed Clay Cylinders as a Potential Game Changer](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJPS7A1RQ/tell-umm-el-marra-syria-and-early-alphabetic-in-the-third)_SRC_
- [World's Oldest Alphabet Found on an Ancient Clay Gift Tag](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJQ9VP421/worlds-oldest-alphabet-found-on-an-ancient-clay-gift-tag)_SRC_

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). The Umm el-Marra inscribed clay cylinders [Artifact ART0DEDT7N59F26]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ART0DEDT7N59F26
```

Key

**ART** 0DEDT7N59F26

Kind

Object

Held by

Syrian Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums (location not published)

Dated

c. 2450-2300 BC (pottery parallels with Ebla Palace G and radiocarbon)

Part of

[Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic)

The record

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