A cuneiform tablet from ancient Persia, which flourished on the site of modern Iran 2,500 years ago, contains administrative details.
Posted on 04/28/2004 9:09:42 PM PDT by freedom44
CHICAGO -- Three hundred ancient clay tablets that help provide information on the languages and daily life in the Persian empire are headed back to Iran in what University of Chicago officials have described as the first U.S. return of loaned Iranian artifacts since the Islamic Revolution.
The clay tablets are 2,500 years old and have provided historians with details about everyday life then, down to the daily ration of barley and beer for workers.
Now they are taking on modern day social and political significance as the university's Oriental Institute -- one of the leading centers for the study of ancient Iran in the United States -- tries to re-establish ties with Iranian scholars and archaeology sites.
Gil Stein, the institute's director, and several other officials are escorting the tablets to Iran this week. While there, Stein hopes to negotiate an agreement with Iranian officials setting down details for new excavation work in Iran, joint publications and training of Iranian students in conserving ancient artifacts.
The return of the tablets will help "establish good faith" to get things under way, Stein said Wednesday.
The 300 tablets are among tens of thousands discovered in 1933 by University of Chicago archeologists excavating in Persepolis, a capital of the Persian empire. They vary in size from that of a dish towel to that of a packet of chewing gum and in color from peachy beige to reddish brown.
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