REVEALED: The first text messages 'printed' by man from 6,000 years ago

It might not look like the text we’re familiar with today, but this cylinder could signify the origins of writing, experts believe. Their study focused on Uruk, an area in southern Iraq, which was an immensely important centre of culture and trade around 6,000 years ago. An example of a cylinder seal and its imprint into clay, which could signify the origins of writing, experts believe A 5,000 year old clay tablet, which is thought to carry the 'world's first autograph' The ruins of Uruk in the Al-Muthanna province, Iraq, which was founded in 5,000 BC Now, experts have found a link between these cylinders and proto-cuneiform - the first symbol-based script which emerged around 1,000 years later. The discovery proves that the motifs known from cylinder seals are directly related to the development of writing in southern Iraq, and gives important new insights into the evolution of symbol systems and writing, the researchers said. A tablet from the library of the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal, who amassed a collection of thousands of cuneiform tablets The remains of Uruk in southern Iraq, which was an immensely important centre of culture and trade around 6,000 years ago Professor Silvia Ferrara, co-author of the study, said: ‘The close relationship between ancient sealing and the invention of writing in southwest Asia has long been recognised, but the relationship between specific seal images and sign shapes has hardly been explored.