Proto-Sinaitic Script

Proto-Sinaitic script is one of the earliest known alphabetic writing systems, developed by Semitic-speaking people in or around Egypt and Sinai. It used simple signs based on Egyptian hieroglyphic shapes, but each sign represented a sound rather than a full word or idea.

This is important because it is part of the deep background of Hebrew writing. The later Canaanite, Phoenician, Paleo-Hebrew, Greek, and Latin alphabets all belong to the larger alphabetic tradition that began with early Semitic scripts like this.