A recent study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science has revealed the materials and techniques used in the production of writing tablets from the Neo-Assyrian Empire, found in the ruins of Nimrud (present-day Iraq). These tablets, dating to the 7th century BCE, represent the first material evidence of cuneiform writing on wax. The tablets […]
Tablets
Posted inPrehistory
Enigmatic Tablets: The Small Artifacts from the Bronze Age Found Across Central Europe That No One Knows the Purpose Of
The enigmatic tablets, the subject of intense study by archaeologists throughout Europe, are small artifacts made of terracotta or stone dating back to the Bronze Age, specifically between 2100 and 1400 BCE. These mysterious objects have been found since the second half of the 19th century at various archaeological sites across the continent, primarily in […]
Posted inBronze Age Archaeology
Clay Tablet with Cuneiform Writing Found, Contains Furniture Shopping List from the Bronze Age
In a significant archaeological discovery, the Minister of Culture and Tourism of Turkey, Mehmet Ersoy, has announced the discovery of an ancient cuneiform tablet at the site of Aççana Höyük, also known as the ancient city of Alalah, located in the district of Reyhanlı, Hatay. This tablet, which has been hidden for millennia, has come […]
Posted inBronze Age Archaeology
A Tablet Found in 1933 at Tel Beth-Shemesh is the Only Evidence of a School Text of Cuneiform Alphabet Outside Ugarit, Researchers Reveal
In the fifth season of excavations at Tel Beth-Shemesh (Ain Shams, present-day Israel) in 1933, a fractured tablet with a cuneiform inscription dating to the Late Bronze Age was found. This find, quickly considered the oldest alphabetic cuneiform text discovered in the Canaanite area outside Ugarit, became the focus of numerous studies. Subsequent readings suggested […]
Posted inAntiquity
Iddin-Sin’s Letter, Written 4000 Years Ago, Is the Earliest Known Complaint from a Son to His Mother
We don’t know what Zinu, a woman living in the Mesopotamian city of Larsa (about 15 miles southeast of Uruk in present-day Iraq), thought when she received the letter from her son Iddin-Sin. The young man, who was likely studying at a school in the kingdom of the famous Hammurabi, bitterly complained that the clothes […]
Posted inHistory
How Archaeologists Discovered the First Diplomatic Treatises, Written in a Previously Unknown Language
In 1964, a team of archaeologists from the University of Rome La Sapienza, led by Paolo Matthiae, began excavating at Tell Mardikh, a site located 55 kilometers southeast of Aleppo, Syria. Their goal was to demonstrate that Syria had hosted its own cultures in ancient times. Over the years, the discoveries accumulated: ancient palaces, statues, […]
Posted inMedieval Archaeology
Strange and Exceptional ‘Curse Tablet’ Found in a Medieval Latrine in Germany
Archaeologists have made a spectacular discovery during the expansion works of the city hall in Rostock (state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania), located on the northeast coast of Germany. A seemingly unremarkable piece of metal has turned out to be a ‘cursed tablet’. It is a piece of rolled lead. Unrolling it, researchers were able to read […]
