Could Another Alphabet Have Developed

The alphabet used in most languages derives from the ancient Canaanite alphabet that developed in the early to mid 2nd millennium BCE in the Sinai region. This alphabet is based on Egyptian hieroglyphs, where the early developers simply took hieroglyphs and simplified them to more basic sounds and symbols. Over time, this developed into the letters that we are familiar with. However, this was not the only alphabet that developed in that time period. In fact, perhaps somewhat later in the 2nd millennium BCE, another competing alphabet developed.