自十八世纪末至今不到二百年间,随着近代考古学的发展,大量久为世人所不知道的古代文字的材料陆续出土。由于这些死文字的释读成功,各个有关的上古文明历史,得以根据遗留下来的文献进行研究。其中尤为著名的,例如在西方,有古代埃及象形文字的释读和随之兴起的古代埃及文明的研究;古代苏美尔·阿卡德语楔形文字的释读和随之兴起的古代美索不达米亚文明(苏美尔·阿卡德、巴比伦·亚述文明)的研究;克里特·迈锡尼线形文字 Since the late eighteenth century, less than 200 years ago, with the development of modern archeology, a large number of ancient texts unknown to the world have been unearthed. Due to the successful interpretation of these dead words, the history of all relevant ancient civilizations can be studied on the basis of the remaining documents. Among them are notable ones, such as the study of the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and the rise of ancient Egyptian civilization in the West; the interpretation of ancient Sumerian Akkadian wedges and the rise of the ancient Mesopotamian Studies of Asian Civilization (Sumerian Akkad, Babylonian Assyrian Civilization); Cretan Mycenah linear text