The early writing appears to date to around 2400 B.C.—preceding the previous most bygone examples by roughly 500 years.

Cities are undoubtedly at the core of our civilization, from the earliest traces of urban settlements built over 6,000 years ...

Although far from the oldest writing we have found, these cylinders are 500 years older than any previously known example of alphabetic script, if that is indeed what they carry.