# Oldest deciphered written language

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-deciphered-written-language/569148>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 27, 2011, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-deciphered-written-language/569148 "2011-01-27T03:30:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speak_to_me_Maddie)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-deciphered-written-language/569148/1 "2011-01-27T03:30:35Z")

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What is the oldest known instance of written language that has been reliably deciphered? And what does it say? I don’t mean a vague proto-language symbolism that says “something about hunting” etc., but writing that has a particular and specific meaning?

I’d guess it would be from Sumer or Egypt and be about some ruler conquering something. Experts let me know.

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**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-deciphered-written-language/569148/2 "2011-01-27T03:50:21Z")

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Well, just to give a lower bound, the cuneiform writing of the Sumerians has been deciphered for more or less 150 years, and it developed in the 30th century BC. So it’s a written language that someone can currently read that developed just shy of 5,000 years ago.

See [Cuneiform - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform_script)

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**Author:** ![Walther\_Ego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Walther\_Ego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walther_Ego)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-deciphered-written-language/569148/3 "2011-01-27T07:30:10Z")

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If you want to take symbolism out, Sumerian is probably the oldest language and it is deciphered. Don’t think that the oldest Sumerian writing is elaborate litterature, thou. They were just doing crude book-keeping. Setting a fixed limit for what is symbolism and what writing will be hard (but fun).