Proto-Canaanite Alphabet

The Proto-Canaanite alphabet was an early alphabetic script used in the land of Canaan before Hebrew, Phoenician, and related scripts became clearly separate. It represents the stage where Semitic writing in the Levant became more developed and recognizable.

This matters for the Hebrew story because ancient Hebrew writing grew out of the Canaanite alphabetic world. Before there was a clearly separate “Hebrew script,” Israelite writing shared roots with the scripts of neighboring Canaanite peoples.