Before 1000 BC
Further information: Bronze Age writingA very limited number of languages are attested from before the Bronze Age collapse and the rise of alphabetic writing: The Sumerian, Hurrian, Hattic and Elamite language isolates, Afro-Asiatic in the form of the Egyptian and a number of ancient Semitic languages, Indo-European (Anatolian languages, Mycenaean Greek and traces of Indo-Aryan), and Sino-Tibetan (Old Chinese). There are a number of undeciphered Bronze Age records, like Proto-Elamite script and Linear Elamite, the Indus script (claimed to record a "Harappan language"), and Cretan hieroglyphs and Linear A (encoding a possible "Eteocretan language").
| Date | Language | Attestation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| c. 2900 BC | Sumerian | Jemdet Nasr period | see Sumerian cuneiform; "proto-literate" period from about 3500 BC (see Kish tablet) |
| c. 2700 BC | Egyptian | Egyptian hieroglyphs in the tomb of Seth-Peribsen (2nd Dynasty), Umm el-Qa'ab | "proto-hieroglyphic" inscriptions from about 3300 BC (Naqada III; see Abydos, Egypt, Narmer Palette) |
| c. 2400 BC | Akkadian | A few dozen pre-Sargonic texts from Mari and other sites in northern Babylonia | Some proper names attested in Sumerian texts at Tell Harmal from about 2800 BC. fragments of the Legend of Etana at Tell Harmal c. 2600 BC. |
| c. 2400 BC | Eblaite | Ebla tablets | |
| c. 2300 BC | Elamite | Awan dynasty peace treaty with Naram-Sin | |
| c. 21st century BC | Hurrian | Temple inscription of Tish-atal in Urkesh | |
| c. 1650 BC | Hittite | Various cuneiform texts and Palace Chronicles written during the reign of Hattusili I, from the archives at Hattusa | see Hittite cuneiform, Hittite texts |
| c. 1500 BC | Canaanite | Proto-Sinaitic alphabet | |
| c. 1400 BC | Luwian | Hieroglyphic Luwian monumental inscriptions, Cuneiform Luwian tablets in the Hattusa archives | Isolated hieroglyphs appear on seals and coins from the 18th century BC. |
| c. 1400 BC | Hattic | Hittite texts CTH 725–745 | |
| c. 1400 BC | Greek | Linear B tablet archive from Knossos | |
| c. 1300 BC | Ugaritic | Tablets from Ugarit | see Ugaritic alphabet |
| c. 1200 BC | Old Chinese | Oracle bone and bronze inscriptions from the reign of Wu Ding |
Read more about this topic: List Of Languages By First Written Accounts