Epigraphic drawing of the Cascajal block, which sets the earliest writing from the Western hemisphere back by 400 years.
Credit: Science
SYDNEY, 15 September 2006: A stone block found with patterned inscriptions from an ancient civilisation in Veracruz, Mexico, is believed to be evidence of the oldest writing from the New World.
According to a study published today in the U.S. journal Science, the stone – named the "Cascajal block" - was discovered in a gravel quarry near the former capital of the Western World's oldest civilisation, the Olmec's of Mesoamerica.
Stephen Houston, an anthropologist at Brown University in Providence, USA and co-author of the study, worked with a team of international archaeologists to date the Cascajal block back to the early first millennium BC. The authors say that the block's ancient script is a writing system that shows evidence of the literacy and complexity of the Olmec civilisation.
"This is momentous: one of a handful of ancient writing systems discovered in modern times; and it makes the Olmec Civilisation, first in Mexico and Central America, literate, with all of the organisational consequences of that development: records of economy, ritual, and enduring precedent," said Houston.
Road builders accidentally discovered the Cascajal block in a pile of debris in a destroyed area of the Lomas de Tacamichapa community in the late 1990's. The block was also found with ceramic shards, clay figurine fragments, and broken artefacts of ground stone. This helped the authors date the block and its script to the San Lorenzo phase which ended about 900 BC, approximately 400 years before writing was originally believed to have first appeared in the Western hemisphere.
While still undecipherable, the block's engraved script consists of 62 signs, is similar to other Olmec imagery and appears to be a writing system. "If we can decode their content, these earliest voices of Mesoamerican civilisation will speak to us today," said Houston.
The block is in good enough condition to show the script's defined elements, patterns of sequencing, and consistent reading order, and the author's claim that the text "conforms to all expectations of writing".
"As products of a writing system, the sequences would, by definition, reflect patterns of language, with the probable presence of syntax and language-dependent word order," the authors wrote.
The authors believe that the surface of the block was carved to allow text to be engraved and erased, as the surface containing the script appears to be concave from being carved repeatedly.
The discovery of the Cascajal block leaves the authors with a new sense of hope and excitement, with the anticipation that there could be more texts like this one waiting to be discovered in the area.
"It's a tantalising discovery. I think it could be the beginning of a new era of focus on Olmec civilisation," said Houston. "The find will lead, we hope, to renewed focus on the archaeology of this part of Mexico, where more such texts probably await discovery."
