In 2001 scientists studying human language made a breakthrough: by looking at the DNA of a family with a rare speech ...

The tablet could predate the earliest known evidence of writing in the Caucasus region by over a thousand years, hinting at a potentially lost script. Reading time 3 minutes A few years ago, fishermen ...

Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. A bronze hand from 2,100 years ago has revealed rare evidence of a mysterious ancient language, with researchers ...

The globe hums with thousands of languages. But when did humans first lay out a structured system to communicate, one that was distinct to a particular area? Scientists are aware of more than 7,100 ...

An international team of linguists and geneticists has achieved a significant breakthrough in our understanding of the origins of Indo-European, a family of languages spoken by nearly half of the ...

Tom has a Master's degree in Journalism. His editorial work covers anything from archaeology and the environment to technology and culture. Tom has a Master's degree in Journalism. His editorial work ...

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: The archaeological site at Turkey’s Boğazköy-Hattusha, the former capital of the Bronze Age Hittite empire, is a hotbed of ancient languages. During ...

The common ancestor of Indo-European languages, which are now spoken by close to half the world’s population, was spoken in the eastern Mediterranean around 8000 years ago, according to an analysis of ...

The legacy of the medieval Swahili civilization is a source of extraordinary pride in East Africa, as reflected in its language being the official tongue of Kenya, Tanzania and even inland countries ...