# Glenn M. Schwartz · Person

> Archaeologist who excavated Umm el-Marra and proposed that its clay cylinders carry alphabetic writing of c. 2400 BC. In Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/people/FIG0DEDQCEX5A9T/glenn-m-schwartz  
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)Glenn M. Schwartz

Person · in 1 mystery

# Glenn M. Schwartz

Archaeologist who excavated Umm el-Marra and proposed that its clay cylinders carry alphabetic writing of c. 2400 BC

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

Glenn M. Schwartz is american archaeologist, Johns Hopkins University, co-director of the Umm el-Marra excavations (1994-2010), who published the inscribed cylinders in 2010 and argued in 2021 and 2024 that they are early alphabetic, and appears in the record of Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet as archaeologist who excavated Umm el-Marra and proposed that its clay cylinders carry alphabetic writing of c. 2400 BC.

One event on the site involves Schwartz: Glenn Schwartz presents the Umm el-Marra cylinders as alphabetic writing of about 2400 BC (Nov 2024).

One question rest in part on what Schwartz did or said, among them “Are the Umm el-Marra clay cylinders of about 2400 BC alphabetic writing?”, which stands open: 3 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**

Archaeologist who excavated Umm el-Marra and proposed that its clay cylinders carry alphabetic writing of c. 2400 BC · 1 event

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

[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)Open: 3 answers, none ahead

## What Glenn M. Schwartz did 1

Nov 2024[Glenn Schwartz presents the Umm el-Marra cylinders as alphabetic writing of about 2400 BC](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/events/EVT0DEDS39RRDQF/glenn-schwartz-presents-the-umm-el-marra-cylinders-as)

## Sources 2

[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

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). Glenn M. Schwartz [Person FIG0DEDQCEX5A9T]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/FIG0DEDQCEX5A9T
```

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Key

**FIG** 0DEDQCEX5A9T

Record

Person

Occupation

Excavator of Umm el-Marra, Proponent of the third-millennium alphabet claim

Identity

American archaeologist, Johns Hopkins University, co-director of the Umm el-Marra excavations (1994-2010), who published the inscribed cylinders in 2010 and argued in 2021 and 2024 that they are early alphabetic

In

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

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