Written in cuneiform, this ancient document dates back to the 15th century BCE. It contains a record of the purchase of a large quantity of wooden furniture.
Turkey’s Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Ersoy, announced that this remarkable relic was discovered in the southern province of Hatay. The artifact was first uncovered by workers who were addressing the aftermath of an earthquake.
The oldest known writing system in the world, cuneiform was developed around 5,500 years ago in Mesopotamia, where it was used for three millennia. The Babylonians, Assyrians, and Sumerians later adopted this writing system, each using it in their own languages, as reported by IFLScience.
According to Mr. Ersoy, the recently discovered receipt is likely written in Akkadian, the language of international communication in the world’s earliest empire. The Akkadian Empire existed from the 24th to the 22nd centuries BCE in central Mesopotamia, in what is now modern-day Iraq.
Soon, artificial intelligence will decode cuneiform tablets
Linguists are currently working on deciphering the text, the first few lines of which document the sale and purchase of a large number of chairs, tables, and stools, as well as information about the identities of the buyers and sellers.
Interestingly, this is far from the first ancient trade report in Akkadian discovered by archaeologists. In 2018, researchers stumbled upon a similar clay tablet containing a complaint from a buyer dissatisfied with the quality of the copper he had purchased.
Currently, scientists are facing challenges in deciphering messages engraved on such ancient tablets. However, this process is expected to become significantly easier with the development of an artificial intelligence system capable of translating Akkadian and other ancient languages with 97 percent accuracy.