Case file · Folklore / legend
The 'proto-Sumerian archive' of Kamyana Mohyla
Kamyana Mohyla, a sandstone hill near Melitopol with thousands of prehistoric carvings, was claimed by the orientalist Anatoly Kifishin (2001) to hold the world's oldest written archive in a 'proto-Sumerian' script.
2001 CE · 46.95, 35.47 · status: claim
The account
The grottoes contain petroglyphs from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age. The writing claim became popular in Ukrainian nationalist and esoteric circles. Archaeologists value the site but reject the readings.
The sceptical view
The 'inscriptions' are not accepted as writing by specialists in Sumerian or prehistoric art.