# Alan Gardiner · Person

> Egyptologist who read b'lt and explained the script as acrophonic. In Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/people/FIG0DEDQ9NR2M42/alan-gardiner  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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

Person · in 1 mystery

# Alan Gardiner

Egyptologist who read b'lt and explained the script as acrophonic **1879–1963.**

[Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic)[1 event][2 sources]

Alan Gardiner is english Egyptologist (1879-1963) whose 1916 paper read the word b'lt and explained the letters as hieroglyphic pictures named in Semitic (1879–1963), and appears in the record of Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet as egyptologist who read b'lt and explained the script as acrophonic.

One event on the site involves Gardiner: Alan Gardiner reads the recurring sign group as Semitic b'lt, "Lady", and explains the letters as hieroglyphs named in Semitic (1916).

Three questions rest in part on what Gardiner did or said, among them “How many letters did the earliest alphabet have, and which Egyptian signs are their prototypes?”, which stands open: 2 answers, none ahead.

Written from the site's records. [Improve it](https://mysteriesdept.com/developers)

## In the mysteries

**Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet**

Egyptologist who read b'lt and explained the script as acrophonic · 1 event

[The mystery ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic)

[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)Open: 2 answers, none ahead

[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)Open: 4 answers, none ahead

[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)Open: 4 answers, none ahead

## What Alan Gardiner did 1

1916[Alan Gardiner reads the recurring sign group as Semitic b'lt, "Lady", and explains the letters as hieroglyphs named in Semitic](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/events/EVT0DEDRNQD5X4C/alan-gardiner-reads-the-recurring-sign-group-as-semitic-blt)

## Sources 2

[The Egyptian Origin of the Semitic Alphabet](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHH33XVG5/the-egyptian-origin-of-the-semitic-alphabet)

SRC

[The Inscriptions of Sinai, Part I: Introduction and Plates](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHJABP9KX/the-inscriptions-of-sinai-part-i-introduction-and-plates)

SRC

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). Alan Gardiner [Person FIG0DEDQ9NR2M42]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/FIG0DEDQ9NR2M42
```

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Key

**FIG** 0DEDQ9NR2M42

Record

Person

Born

1879-03-29

Died

1963-12-19

Occupation

Author of the founding reading (1916), Co-editor of The Inscriptions of Sinai (1917)

Identity

English Egyptologist (1879-1963) whose 1916 paper read the word b'lt and explained the letters as hieroglyphic pictures named in Semitic

In

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

Version

1

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[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

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