Posted on 12/16/2008 4:53:43 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Three ancient ram statues newly discovered in Sudan could help decipher the oldest script in sub-Saharan Africa whose secrets are mysterious to the modern world, a Western archaeologist said on Tuesday. The rams were excavated at El-Hassa, 180 kilometres (110 miles) north of Khartoum, on a sacred causeway leading to an ancient temple, said Vincent Rondot, head of the French Section of the Directorate on Antiquities of Sudan. The site is one of the most southern temples built to Amum, considered an omnipotent god, creator and guardian by people who lived throughout the Nile valley during the Merotic period 300 BC to 450 AD, said Rondot. Key to the discovery three weeks ago is a royal inscription that bears the name of little known king Amanakhareqerem, said Rondot, whose unit is funded by the French foreign ministry... Experts can pronounce the text and can read names, but cannot understand the words. Merotic is a branch of the same linguistic tree as languages spoken in contemporary Sudan and Eritrea, the archaeologist said... "This year we found one with the complete inscription around. So, for the first time, we have a complete text," he added.
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
Lost Languages:
The Enigma Of The World's
Undeciphered Scripts
by Andrew Robinson
|
|
|||
Gods |
To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. |
||
|
· Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · · The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · |
|||
Sounds like an early form of Ebonics!
Could you please speak clearly into the mouth of the ram!
That sounds like a fascinating book! Have you read it?
Yes — is well worth reading. It’s not technical at all (or maybe it was, but I don’t think so, and one can always get it from the library, and/or just skip stuff that seems too arcane) and was, as you said, fascinating.
As long as it's in words and not block-long equations, like some of Chomsky's stuff, I can manage! I have a fairly strong linguistics background. :)
:’)
My favorite sections were on Michael Ventris's decipherment of the Linear B script, and on the Rongorongo script once used on Easter Island.
The author's descriptions of some of the failed attempts to decipher the latter are quite amusing.
:’)
BUMP!
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.
