Dumaitic

The Dumaitic script constitutes a discrete and highly specialized variety of the Ancient North Arabian (ANA) alphabetic family, the local writing tradition of the oasis and ancient city of Dūmat al-Jandal in the al-Jawf Province of northern Saudi Arabia.

Dumaitic was used in the first millennium BCE and provides evidence for sedentary literacy in the northern oases before the late antique transition to the use of the Arabic script. Historically, only three Dumaitic inscriptions were known: WTI 21, WTI 22, and WTI 23 (or WDum 1–3). A new survey in the region led to the identification and publication of another sixteen Dumaitic inscriptions in 2018.

Dumaitic was first discovered and documented by Frederick V. Winnett and William L. Reed during a 1962 expedition, with the findings published in 1970. Originally, they named the script "Jawfian". In 2000, Michael C. A. Macdonald re-analyzed the script, and re-named it "Dumaitic" to reflect its connection to the Duma oasis.