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Cuneiform text discovered in the palace.

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In a pit cutting into the earliest level of the Bronze Palace, Dirk and his team made an unexpected discovery – a complete, unbaked clay tablet with cuneifom writing. Here’s a photo of what it looked like when it came out of the ground. Not much to look at! There were two small fragments that were broken off during excavation; the tablet was damp and very fragile.

Cuneiform tablet immediately after excavation.
Cuneiform tablet immediately after excavation.

Under the expert attention of our project conservator, Lourdes Mesa Garcia (a private conservator from Madrid), the fragments were joined to the tablet and the entire artifact was cleaned using a needle, a tiny soft paint brush, and a very gentle air blower. We let the tablet dry for four days (yes, I’ve been holding out on you) before cleaning it to clarify the signs.

Look at the difference!

Tablet after restoration.
Tablet after restoration.

John has made a preliminary assessment and determined that the tablet is an accounting list of 25 textiles of several different types. There is a date on the tablet, but only giving the day and month. Sadly, no year is recorded. There are also two Assyrian personal names.

John MacGinnis, our project epigrapher, at work reading the tablet.
John MacGinnis, our project epigrapher, at work reading the tablet.

What is particularly important about this tablet is that it appears to be Middle Assyrian in date, meaning that it was written between (very roughly) 1300 – 1050 BC, several centuries before all the other tablets we have found. Assyriologists like John can date tablets according to their paleography (broadly, the study of ancient languages, including their written form)

In ancient Assyrian, just like other languages, the vocabulary, grammar, and shapes of the letters (here cuneiform wedges) change over time. Think of the differences in language and writing between Beowulf, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and a modern novel – all written in English. Over time, the written form of cuneiform changed and two of the cuneiform signs used in our tablet were used during the Middle Assyrian period, but are not found in Late Assyrian texts; their archaic form suggests the earlier date. This is the earliest written material we have from Ziyaret Tepe. We also know that the palaces in Assyrian cities were often involved in textile production and although we can’t say that this tablet proves this was the case at Assyrian Tushhan, it is one possible explanation for why such a tablet would have been stored in the palace archives.

By matney

Dr. Matney is Professor of Archaeology in the Department of Anthropology and Classical Studies at the University of Akron. He is the Director of the Ziyaret Tepe Archaeological Expedition.

4 replies on “Cuneiform text discovered in the palace.”

How exciting! How many tablets is it that you’ve found now? So, what kinds of textiles were they making in 1050 BC or thereabouts? Can’t wait to see what you guys turn up next!

Hi Liz,
It is often difficult to translate the exact meaning of itemized lists since they don’t provide much context to distinguish the items from one another. In this case, the tablet is listing textiles made of wool. We know this because there is a cuneiform sign used to denote woolen garments. John tells me that the list includes both garments worn on the upper body, as well as on the lower body, and that one of the textiles is identified as a woolen shawl. Most Assyrian garments were probably woolen, fewer were linen. There is some evidence (not from Ziyaret Tepe) that cotton garments were also available but probably were very rare.
Tim

That’s interesting. Did they (the Assyrians) export much wool? Obviously they produced garments rather than just bolts of cloth. I wonder if they had standard sizes – or were their clothes “one size fits all”? Certainly there isn’t much sizing to a shawl.
I am always amazed at how small some of the tablets are.

The Cuneiform tests are not in Assyrian as it is a new language and said possibly linked to people who lived Zagros Mountains area.

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