more (at source): It may be, as is often noted, that his achievement is the only known instance of an individual’s single-handedly creating an entirely new system of writing.

An archaeologist and explorer of caves has now found what he thinks are the earliest known examples of the Sequoyah syllabary. The characters are cut into the wall of a cave in southeastern Kentucky, a place sacred to the Cherokee as the traditional burial site of a revered chief. The archaeologist, Kenneth B. Tankersley of the University of Cincinnati, said in an interview recently that this was “one of the most fascinating and important finds in my career,” yielding likely insights into “the genius of Sequoyah.”

What a great find.

There are some folks who are born linguists.
Nice clip!

Alphabets have nothing to do with linguistics, which is confined strictly t the spoken form. That said, Sequoyah was, indeed, a genius. To do what he did takes a very keen mind indeed. One of the odd things about the Cherokee alphabet is that since Sequoyah was illeterate, the Roman letters he included do not correspond to their sound values in English, making it hard to learn for non-native speakers.