Communication · c. 1,850 BCE

Alphabet (Proto-Sinaitic)

Semitic workers in Egypt pick a few hieroglyphs to stand for single consonants.

Inscriptions at Serabit el-Khadim in Sinai and Wadi el-Hol in Egypt, about 1850 BCE, use around two dozen signs, each for one consonant. With so few signs to learn, writing could spread beyond professional scribes; nearly every alphabet in use today descends from it.

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