The oldest recorded names in human history are found in Mesopotamia, the birthplace of writing. Cuneiform, the world's earliest writing system, emerged over 5,000 years ago alongside Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Cuneiform is incredibly complex, and the study of it even more so. In order to learn more about the oldest recorded names, Stefan Milo turned to an Assyriologist, Dr. Sara Mohr, who explained that cuneiform is a script used to write a variety of different languages in the ancient Near East. The names that have been recorded are from contemporary documents from the time that the person was alive with their name on it. None of the names from the Old Testament of the Bible or the Torah, or from oral history, can be included in the list because they cannot be dated accurately.
Stefan also discusses how modern humans have been on Earth for probably around 200 to 300,000 years, and one thing we can never know about anyone who lived in prehistory is their names. He also talks about the importance of humanizing our ancestors and making sense of our place in the world.
