This is the first episode of a two-part series on the origin of jokes and humor. The story appears in podcast feeds under the title, "Jokes, Part I: Sumer Funny, Sumer Not." Listen to part two here.

Stored in one of the various cabinets and cases that make up the Penn Museum archives, there's a stone tablet that's barely 3 inches on each side. It easily fits in the palm of one's hand. It's ...

A piece of an ancient clay tablet found in Greece may have something to say about the written word and the people who produced it. Discovered last summer by a St. Louis archeological team that's been ...

1. The Sumerian Account of the Invention of Writing -- 2. Time and Place of the Invention -- 3. Received Ideas: The Pictographic Origins of Cuneiform Writing -- 4. Received Ideas: The Origin of ...