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 ...
Where is the obligatory photo of the Ancient Alien guy
ROFLMAO.
Dude, that is too perfect.
It says: “Be sure to drink your Ovaltine.”
Thanks bhf!
Have they tried it on Babelfish?
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.
;’)
Thanks!
Clicks and snorts
Most likely a list of concubines or slaves.
Assyrian high speed printer...
:’D
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.