posted on Dec, 29 2003 @ 11:24 AM
Online dictionary helps unravel Sumerian language
Digital technology facilitates research
Kyle Cassidy
Special to The Daily Star
Scholars studying ancient writing systems to reconstruct the societies they belonged to are increasingly turning to digital dictionaries in an effort
to accelerate their work. Among the institutions taking advantage of the considerable benefits offered by the digitizing process is the University of
Pennsylvania�s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, which is drawing on the latest digital technology to write a Sumerian dictionary.
Four thousand years ago, in the Sumerian city of Nippur, scribes were attending classes to learn a relatively new and privileged profession: writing.
Practicing their trade on soft clay tablets with a reed stylus, these students prepared for a career in the vast bureaucracy that formed the backbone
of Mesopotamian civilization.
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