Oldest Writing From New World Creates Buzz

By Chris Bryant

Carved across the surface of a 26-pound stone slab unearthed in Veracruz, Mexico, is the oldest known writing ever discovered in the Americas, according to a paper that published in the Sept. 15 issue of the journal Science by a seven person team of archaeologists, including UA’s Dr. Richard A. “Dick” Diehl.

The journal article outlines the scientists’ determination that the slab’s symbols are some 2,900 years old and represent writings from the Olmec civilization, a people believed to be the first civilization in Mesoamerica (which includes much of Mexico and Central America) and who Diehl, professor of anthropology, has studied for some 40 years.

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