A stone slab with 3,000-year-old writing, perhaps the oldest script ever found in the Western Hemisphere, has been discovered in Mexico, reports say.
A Mexican-U.S. research team of archaeologists said the 26-pound tablet, about the size of a legal pad, contained 62 symbols that appeared to be an organized text, perhaps dating back to 900 B.C.
The Vera Cruz discovery bore imagery similar to the Olmec civilization, considered the Americas' oldest, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Details appeared in Friday's edition of the journal Science.
The stone was discovered by a married Mexican couple, lead writers of the report, who found that the object reveals "a new complexity" in the Olmec civilization, The New York Times said.
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
