Posted on 10/19/2005 4:21:03 PM PDT by blam
Charles Harmon
Director of University Relations
Sementha Mathews
Manager of Public Information and Media Relations
5,000-year-old treasure rediscovered in library storage room
Dr. Melanie Byrd, professor and coordinator of planning and program review in the History Department, holds a piece of the treasure in the palm of her hand. Valdosta State University Odum Library has uncovered an ancient treasure that excites even the mildest Indiana Jones wanna-be.
The treasure is a collection of 5,000-year-old Babylonian cuneiform clay tablets, dating back from 2300 BC to 500 BC. Cuneiform is one of several writing systems of the ancient East, in which wedge-shaped impressions were made in soft clay tablets. These tablets, delicate in nature, literally fit in the palm of one’s hand, measuring only 1.5 inches squared.
Dr. Richard Holmes Powell, first president of South Georgia State Normal College (now VSU) acquired a collection of ten of these tablets from Edgar Banks, an archaeologist working in Iraq in the early 20th century. Powell intended the tablets to provide learning opportunities for the school’s students; however, over the years, the tablets remained preserved in a library storage room. It wasn’t until a few years ago, that the tablets were found by Deborah Davis, Archivist. In an effort to make them available to the public without frequent handling, the tablets were scanned and made available for viewing on the web, even though, no one could interpret the inscriptions.
Before long, Cale Johnson, a cuneiform scholar from UCLA, saw the tablets on the web and offered to translate them. Through his translations, many things can be studied about this ancient time of history. A detailed interpretation of these tablets and an explanation of their significance can be found at http://books.valdosta.edu/arch/Babylonian/babylonian.htm .
Odum Library Archivist Deborah Davis opens ten small boxes, each containing a unique historical clay tablet. Davis said these tablets are some of the earliest samples of writing, but just as important, they reveal a significant part of business exchange, religion, medicine, etc., of ancient everyday life. “And now, we have a part of it,” said Davis.
For more information, contact Davis at 333-7150 or dsdavis@valdosta.edu.
Best recent acquisition: a fine 1928 copy of Fum Boonastiel, a Pennsylvania Dutch classic by T. H. Harter, discovered at an AAUW book sale on the rainiest day in the history of Allentown.
I have meant to send you mail for days about that. :-(
That is just way cool.
Great find! :-)
It's OK. You're busy with an equally cool job :).
Honestly, I think yours is better. :-)
We don't exactly know how many volumes we will be getting yet; they just keep coming in. He archived a lot of historical material, as well as books by many local and state publishers. But our projected deadline for the completion of the project is June, so that should give you a good idea about how much we have to go through! (not that I'm complaining, though :-D)
I think we all think our friends have better jobs than we do!
I remember reading about how archaeologists found graffiti amongst the Greek and Roman ruins. My favorite was one found on a wall in Pompei: "SERENA HATES ISADORE"
Loving all forms of Alphabets PINGS !
LOL!
I still liked the notion that a potter using a needle to enscribe a line on a pot may have recorded local sounds from a market place on the pot not unlike a vinyl record. (Pipe dream I know)
Gregory Benford actually wrote a short story ("Time Shards") based around that concept.
COOL! :-)
Thanks for the ping!
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Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
This double post was not my fault. #34 did not show up, so I reloaded the Comments screen, and it wasn't there (usually, it would say, "#35 of 34" and the message would be there). So I reposted it. That's what's known as a gotcha. ;')
For example:
Five ancient inscriptions unearthed at Haft-Tappeh ^
Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat ^ 10/19/2005 10:08:05 PM PDT · 10 of 9 ^
This one says: "Property of Helen Thomas"
Archaeologica·Texas AM Anthropology News·ArchaeoBlog·Archaeology magazine
Biblical Archaeology Society·Archaeology Odyssey·post a topic
Here's a bunch more: http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Latin_Vulgar/Texts/Pompeii_Graffiti.html
Samples:
Celadus the Thracier makes the girls moan!Caution. Some are quite bawdy.
Profit is happiness!
I've caught a cold.
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