Long before the “A, B, C Song” — built upon the Latin alphabet — and the alphas, betas and gammas of Ancient Greek, cultures around the world were communicating with one another.

In 2004, while she was still a meticulous young graduate student, Elaine Sullivan made a discovery that would deepen the history of human writing. Using trowels and brushes to remove ancient soil at ...

While still a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University, UC Santa Cruz professor Elaine Sullivan unearthed ancient ...