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Unknown Ancient Language Found on Clay Tablet
Sci-News ^ | Fri, May 11th, 2012 | Enrico de Lazaro

Posted on 05/12/2012 11:32:27 AM PDT by SunkenCiv

The archaeologists working at Ziyaret Tepe, the probable site of the ancient Assyrian city of Tushan, believe that this language may have been spoken by deportees originally from the Zagros Mountains, on the border of modern-day Iran and Iraq. In keeping with a policy widely practiced across the Assyrian Empire, these people may have been forcibly moved from their homeland and resettled in what is now south-east Turkey, where they would have been set to work building the new frontier city and farming its hinterland.

The evidence for the language they spoke comes from a single clay tablet, which was preserved after it was baked in a fire that destroyed the palace in Tushan at some point around the end of the 8th century BCE. Inscribed with cuneiform characters, the tablet is essentially a list of the names of women who were attached to the palace and the local Assyrian administration. A paper in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies reports the discovery.

"Altogether around 60 names are preserved," said Dr. John MacGinnis from the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge. "One or two are actually Assyrian and a few more may belong to other known languages of the period, such as Luwian or Hurrian, but the great majority belong to a previously unidentified language."

(Excerpt) Read more at sci-news.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: assyria; assyrianempire; assyrians; cuneiform; epigraphyandlanguage; godsgravesglyphs; ziyarettepe
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To: SunkenCiv

Where is the obligatory photo of the Ancient Alien guy


41 posted on 05/12/2012 6:00:04 PM PDT by wildbill (You're just jealous because the Voices talk only to me.)
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To: UCANSEE2; SunkenCiv

ROFLMAO.

Dude, that is too perfect.


42 posted on 05/12/2012 6:02:46 PM PDT by wildbill (You're just jealous because the Voices talk only to me.)
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To: SunkenCiv

It says: “Be sure to drink your Ovaltine.”


43 posted on 05/12/2012 6:05:45 PM PDT by GreenHornet
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To: bigheadfred

Thanks bhf!


44 posted on 05/13/2012 4:05:34 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (FReepathon 2Q time -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv

Have they tried it on Babelfish?


45 posted on 05/13/2012 4:09:47 AM PDT by abishai
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To: RoosterRedux

Akkadian was written in cuneiform, but after it was cracked (Akkadian having been a Semitic language, somewhat similar to modern ones) it became clear to scholars that the writing system had been adapted for it; other tablets which had been readable but not understood were tackled, and Sumerian was figured out; that was the original language for which cuneiform was developed.


46 posted on 05/13/2012 4:12:07 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (FReepathon 2Q time -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: edpc

;’)


47 posted on 05/13/2012 4:12:17 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (FReepathon 2Q time -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: Monkey Face; lonevoice; Islander7; marsh2

Thanks!


48 posted on 05/13/2012 4:12:17 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (FReepathon 2Q time -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv
Will Dr. Daniel Jackson please pick-up the white courtesy phone...?
49 posted on 05/13/2012 7:31:06 AM PDT by pabianice
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To: duckman

Clicks and snorts


50 posted on 05/13/2012 10:10:29 AM PDT by wolfcreek (‘closed eye’ mentality is the reason for our current reality)
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To: SunkenCiv

Most likely a list of concubines or slaves.


51 posted on 05/14/2012 7:54:59 AM PDT by Altariel ("Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!")
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To: SunkenCiv
That's authentic frontier gibberish, an ancient language that survived into modern times.


52 posted on 05/14/2012 2:42:59 PM PDT by colorado tanker
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To: wildbill

53 posted on 05/14/2012 2:53:53 PM PDT by OB1kNOb (The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty. - Prov 22:3)
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To: UCANSEE2

Assyrian high speed printer...


54 posted on 05/14/2012 4:18:36 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they were.)
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To: colorado tanker

:’D


55 posted on 05/14/2012 4:23:13 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (FReepathon 2Q time -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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