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→The Other Alphabet
Neither the hieroglyphs-based alphabet, which became the Canaanite alphabet, nor the cuneiform one were widespread in the 2nd millennium BCE. In fact, the more complicated hieroglyphs and cuneiform scripts that were non-alphabetical were still dominant in the region and were utilized. In particular, cuneiform and Akkadian specifically were the common script and language used in communication between states and likely merchants. Overall, although two alphabet scripts came into existence, there presence was limited due to the key political powers and trade networks established at the time that promoted the more ancient scripts.<ref>For more on the history of the Late Bronze Age, see: Steel, Louise. 2013. <i>Materiality and Consumption in the Bronze Age Mediterranean.</i> Routledge Studies in Archaeology v.8. New York: Routledge.</ref>
The Ugaritic alphabet contained 30 letters and was written from left to right. In addition to people within Ugarit, surrounding Hurrian populations, who are linguistically related to modern Armenian, also used the language. The script was also a more simplified version of cuneiform, making it far easier to read and replicate. In fact, some scholars suggest that cuneiform only influenced it based on the writing system, that is pressing wedges into wet clay, while the actual shape of the overall letters may be less related to cuneiform. There does seem to be a possible missing link between ancient cuneiform and the Ugaritic alphabet, where scholars debate what the link might be. In effect, there is debate as to how much cuneiform influenced this alphabet, but at the very least the design of individual wedges and the use of clay and a stylus like that in cuneiform clearly influenced the script for Ugaritic.<ref>For more on the Ugaritic alphabet, see: Watson, Wilfred G. E., and N. Wyatt, eds. 2015. <i>Handbook of Ugaritic Studies.</i> Handbuch Der Orientalistik. Atlanta: SBL Press.</ref>
[[File:2000px-Ugaritic-alphabet-chart.svg.png|thumbnail|Figure 1. The Ugaritic alphabet.]]
