Ancient Tablet Found: Oldest Readable Writing in Europe

nationalgeographic.com ^ | Published March 30, 2011 | Ker Than

[Red Badger]

Found at a site tied to myth, Greek tablet survived only by accident, experts say. Marks on a clay tablet fragment found in Greece are the oldest known decipherable text in Europe, a new study says.

Considered "magical or mysterious" in its time, the writing survives only because a trash heap caught fire some 3,500 years ago, according to researchers.

Found in an olive grove in what's now the village of Iklaina (map), the tablet was created by a Greek-speaking Mycenaean scribe between 1450 and 1350 B.C., archaeologists say.

The Mycenaeans—made legendary in part by Homer's Iliad, which fictionalizes their war with Troy—dominated much of Greece from about 1600 B.C. to 1100 B.C. (See "Is Troy True? The Evidence Behind Movie Myth.")

So far, excavations at Iklaina have yielded evidence of an early Mycenaean palace, giant terrace walls, murals, and a surprisingly advanced drainage system, according to dig director Michael Cosmopoulos.

But the tablet, found last summer, is the biggest surprise of the multiyear project, Cosmopoulos said.

"According to what we knew, that tablet should not have been there," the University of Missouri-St. Louis archaeologist told National Geographic News.

First, Mycenaean tablets weren't thought to have been created so early, he said. Second, "until now tablets had been found only in a handful of major palaces"—including the previous record holder, which was found among palace ruins in what was the city of Mycenae.

Although the Iklaina site boasted a palace during the early Mycenaean period, by the time of the tablet, the settlement had been reduced to a satellite of the city of Pylos, seat of King Nestor, a key player in the Iliad.

"This is a rare case where archaeology meets ancient texts and Greek myths," Cosmopoulos said in a statement.

Tablet Preserved by Cooking

The markings on the tablet fragment—which is roughly 1 inch ( 2.5 centimeters) tall by 1.5 inches (4 centimeters) wide—are early examples of a writing system known as Linear B.

Used for a very ancient form of Greek, Linear B consisted of about 87 signs, each representing one syllable. (Related: "New Layer of Ancient Greek Writings Detected in Medieval Book.")

The Mycenaeans appear to have used Linear B to record only economic matters of interest to the ruling elite. Fittingly, the markings on the front of the Iklaina tablet appear to form a verb that relates to manufacturing, the researchers say. The back lists names alongside numbers—probably a property list.

Because these records tended to be saved for only a single fiscal year, the clay wasn't made to last, said Cosmopoulos, whose work was funded in part by the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration. (The Society owns National Geographic News.)

"Those tablets were not baked, only dried in the sun and [were], therefore, very brittle. ... Basically someone back then threw the tablet in the pit and then burned their garbage," he said. "This fire hardened and preserved the tablet."

(Related: "Oldest Writing in New World Discovered, Scientists Say.")

Not the Oldest Writing

While the Iklaina tablet is an example of the earliest writing system in Europe, other writing is much older, explained Classics professor Thomas Palaima, who wasn't involved in the study, which is to be published in the April issue of the journal Proceedings of the Athens Archaeological Society.

For example, writings found in China, Mesopotamia, and Egypt are thought to date as far back as 3,000 B.C.

Linear B itself is thought to have descended from an older, still undeciphered writing system known as Linear A. And archeologists think Linear A is related to the older hieroglyph system used by the ancient Egyptians.

(Also see "Oldest Hebrew Text Is Evidence for Bible Stories?")

Magical, Mysterious Writing

Still, the Iklaina tablet is an "extraordinary find," said Palaima, an expert in Mycenaean tablets and administration at the University of Texas-Austin.

In addition to its sheer age, the artifact could provide insights about how ancient Greek kingdoms were organized and administered, he added.

For example, archaeologists previously thought such tablets were created and kept exclusively at major state capitals, or "palatial centers," such as Pylos and Mycenae.

Found in the ruins of a second-tier town, the Iklaina tablet could indicate that literacy and bureaucracy during the late Mycenaean period were less centralized than previously thought.

Palaima added that the ability to read and write was extremely restricted during the Mycenaean period and was regarded by most people as "magical or mysterious."

It would be some 400 to 600 years before the written word was demystified in Greece, as the ancient Greek alphabet overtook Linear B and eventually evolved into the 26 letters used on this page.

[ApplegateRanch]

Considered "magical or mysterious" in its time, the writing survives only because a trash heap caught fire some 3,500 years ago, according to researchers.

---

Was the offending scribe fined 10 drachmas for throwing it into the trash, rrather than the recycle bin?

That was perfectly good, reusable dried clay, until the idiot fired it. Did he think there was an inexhaustable supply of suitable clay, just for the digging?

Did he not realize that that such thoughtless waste, if all the scribes did the same, would cause the premature closing of the local landfill thus necessitating the hauling of trash (at increased expense) farther to a new location?

[Robwin]

Sometimes people who devote their lives to studying a subject actually know something about it.

Do you think the "experts" in the late 1800's who "devote[d] their lives to studying a subject actually [knew} something about it"?

I suggest you take your observations to Heinrich Schliemann. No doubt he will be glad to hear them.

[SunkenCiv]

· GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach · · join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe ·
	Antiquity Journal  & archive  Archaeologica  Archaeology  Archaeology Channel  BAR  Bronze Age Forum  Discover  Dogpile  Eurekalert  Google  LiveScience  Mirabilis.ca  Nat Geographic  PhysOrg  Science Daily  Science News  Texas AM  Yahoo  Excerpt, or Link only?	Thanks Red Badger. Excellent find, sort of an update to: [2009] "This dig is at Iklaina, not at Pylos itself -- the palace at Pylos was discovered as long ago as 1939." Thanks ApplegateRanch for the smart remarks. :') All seriousness aside, the usual way for an ancient clay tablet with writing to make it all the way to the present is to have the archive building (often the entire town) burned down in ancient times, as happened with the Mari archive. The cheap bastards who ran the scribal services back then would otherwise have kept reusing the same tablets over and over, never firing them to make them permanent. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
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[Flag_This]

I remember it like it was yesterday - I was interviewing king Nebuchadnezzar about those annoying Israelites when I dropped my notes.

[Ramius]

Well... some things can surprise from time to time. But I agree with the basic point that we do tend to terribly underestimate the technological prowess of ancient cultures. I think there’s been some ‘surprisingly’ sophisticated societies going much further back than is often supposed.

[SunkenCiv]

Whoops! And thanks BenLurkin!

[Beowulf9]

Obvious. 1. A man lying down on a pillow. 2. An oil well. 3. A tv antenna. It's about the increase in wealth in a country once they tap into their own natural resources!

[Domestic Church]

Santorini certainly would have cooked this tablet to well done!

[SunkenCiv]

There's a new article about Iklaina that purports to reveal new discoveries. It's apparent that there's no one new thing in the whole article, but it makes a nice pretext for an updated ping message and such. This topic is from 2011.

• Pylos excavation findings make Greek archaeologists revise beliefs on Mycenaean Era civilization

and from the FRchives:

• Archaeology meets mythology in Mycenean Pylos (King Nestor)
• The Birth of Bureaucracy (Where Long Lines, Red Tape & Arcane Rules Began; 1650 to 1100 B.C.)

[Rebelbase]

Archaeological dumpster diving.

5000 years from now future archaeologists will record our history from garbage dumps. “The culture was obsessed with an inedible, white synthetic peanut and sheets of synthetic bubbles of nothing but air and the most disturbing find of all were padded wrappers with mummified feces inside....

[ZULU]

It says “MAGA”!!!! Vote Trump!!!!”