The ancient Sumerians invented cuneiform, shown here on a clay tablet documenting barley rations issued monthly to adults and children. The language may have died out as a result of a 200-year drought ...

Before joining Discover Magazine, Paul Smaglik spent over 20 years as a science journalist, specializing in U.S. life science policy and global scientific career issues. He began his career in ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Gonzalo Rubio spends his days reading dead languages that haven't been spoken for thousands of ...

Around 4000 years ago, in the land between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, Ancient Mesopotamia developed the first written language of the world. On view until June 2020, the “Ancient Mesopotamia ...

This is the first episode of a two-part series on the origin of jokes and humor. Listen to part two here. This episode originally aired on August 5, 2022. In the late 1800s, archeologists in Iraq ...

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Mesopotamia, situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, is recognized as the earliest cradle of civilization due to ...