Rare Ancient Artefact Found in Malta

Source

The discovery of a very small fragment of agate stone is causing excitement, as it has a 13th Century BCE cuneiform inscription. Not so surprising, you might think, for an artefact found in Mesopotamia, as the inscription shows that it was part of an object dedicated to the Mesopotamian moon god Sin. But this fragment was found in Malta!

An excavation is being conducted at the site of a megalithic temple, from the late Neolithic Age, in an area on Malta known as Tas-Silg, which is an ancient sanctuary site. The excavation team is lead by palaeontology professor Alberto Casella from the University of Rome (Italy). The main question is how such an article could have found its way so far west and to such a remote location.

One theory is that it may have been looted in a military campaign and then been passed through the hands of merchants and traders. Another theory centres around the high value which would have been placed on the object, which may suggest that the Tas-Silg sanctuary site may have had more significance than previously thought.

I just thought I would bring this to the attention of all you mystery/history buffs here.

I found this story to be quite impressive and as the story itself states, how an article could have found its way so far west. I just thought I would bring it here to get the opinions of some of the more informed people on this site.

Any thoughts?

Pred...

S+F

Great find!

This is an beautiful piece of history. I'll be sure to follow this thread
to see what is learned about this artifact.

reply to post by predator0187


S&F for you!

I would love to see a pic of that Artefact.
The one you posted unfortunately is just an example of cuneiform from Mesopotamia.

reply to post by predator0187


I am interested that the artifact is carved into agate.

Normally Sumerians impressed reed styli, cut to produce a triangular indentation, into soft clay.

A carved agate with cuneiform script would also have been an item of great value even back when it was produced.

I wonder what message was carved into it?

Not only is this a good find, I am curious as to the message contained. It would be hilarious if it were a simple inventory list or worse, a citation for not properly parking one's cart.... but if it is something of more import, such as a royal missive, then the value would really be more!

did they find any other related artifacts?

Great story, I was reading this one the other day
Here is a pic




popular-archaeology.com

Originally posted by LeLeu
Great story, I was reading this one the other day
Here is a pic




popular-archaeology.com

ed it on 15-1-2012 by LeLeu because: (no reason given)

I should have read deeper (D'oh!), the message looks like a fragment of a dedication to the god Sin.

reply to post by predator0187

Very cool find,but your picture is misleading,as to that is a clay tablet.

The stone was cresent shaped. The god Sin was apparently god of the moon.
So would it have been an offering or perhaps a talisman?
Did the christians demonise this old god for their own benifit like they did with pan?
It is a "sin" to worship the pagan god Sin, off with ya head

How could it have gotten there? One thing missing from the report was at what level it was found and when it arrived at that location. That would give a clue.

This quote from the linked magazine page I found disconcerting:

The inscription was translated as a dedication to the Mesopotamian moon god Sin, the father of Ninurta who, for centuries, was the main deity worshiped far to the east in the city of Nippur in Mesopotamia. Nippur was considered a holy city and a pilgrimage site with a scribal school that generated literary texts.

Sin was not Ninurta's father. Sin was Shamash's father. Ninurta's father was Enlil, builder of the city mentioned in the quote (Nippur.)

Nippur has always been known as "Enlil's city." Sin has not so much to do with Nippur, though Ninurta, as the daughter of the city's holy founder, obviously would.

I don't think I'm wrong here. What kind of Archaeology rag makes errors like these (if they are errors - I'm not an expert.)

By the way, the city mentioned - the one built by Enlil - Nippur. It's called Nafar now and still is occupied.

Originally, it's name was Nibiru.

Harte

well ..ummm
this is one of a growing number of Sumerian artifacts that have been found out of place

The Fuente Magna is a ceremonial bowl made of stone and incised with proto Sumerian writing

other such finds have occurred in the Balkans but I can't find them right now and I can't ever read their data because i don't speak Hungarian or Romanian or Bulgarian

but it has been discussed on this board that Hungarian has Sumerian as it's root language

I'm starting to think that Sumeria was a world wide culture....?

S & F

Excellent find.
Malta is such an amazing place. Hopefully before I'm fertilizing Daisies I'll one day visit there.

Originally posted by SLAYER69
S & F

Excellent find.
Malta is such an amazing place. Hopefully before I'm fertilizing Daisies I'll one day visit there.

Go to Gozo too - you'll like the hill top villages

I love this stuff.

It seems more and more evidence comes to fore that indicates a much larger interaction between far reaching peoples, and even long term world trade in some cases much further back than is accepted in the common historical paradigm.

Other things pointing at world trade could be found with the cocoa 'extract' mummies of Egypt. How did a certain white powdery substance native to and only existing in South America wind up in toxicology reports of Egyptian mummies from thousands of years before the common historical paradigm says that travel across the Atlantic occurred?

The the mystery of Maize depicted in some ancient Chinese accountsis another example; maize only existing in the Americas.

Roman Amphora and other Roman artifacts have been found off the coast of Brazil.

One day perhaps the historical model will tie these together in finding that people got around quite a bit more than we thought they did, much earlier than we thought they did too.

reply to post by predator0187


Brilliant spot thanks OP. Malta and it's history is totally intriguing. However, owing to it's position as a power house and launching point during the crusades (and even later against the barbary pirates) then the historic looting theory isn't too much of a stretch.

There is both a glorious and a dubious aspect to the history of Malta and this may well just be a further part of that!

reply to post by predator0187


Why are you posting an image of some clay tablet which is no where connected with the crescent shaped fragment that was actually found. This is a deliberate false image.

The subject is of course genuine and is very interesting. But when we actually read the popular archaeology article, the image of a rectangular clay tablet shown in the original post is blown to bits, it is a big let down.

why couldn't you have posted the actual picture of the crescent shaped fragment itself? was it because its so tiny and nondescript that made you post a different picture?

adding to it, as what Harte had pointed out,
Sin is the father of Shamash. Shamash is ascribed as offspring of Nannar, the moon-god. Nannar being another name of Sin.
Ninruta is the son of Enlil and Ninlil.

Originally posted by LeLeu
Great story, I was reading this one the other day
Here is a pic




popular-archaeology.com

ed it on 15-1-2012 by LeLeu because: (no reason given)

Thank you for showing us the actual artefact in question. I agree with a previous poster, ancient looting.

i am wondering....a 13th century artifact with Sumerian language/cuniform writing..


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13th_century_BC
... in the 13th century BC, is housed at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution.
The 13th century BC was the period from 1300 to 1201 BC. ..


Now i thought that the Sumerian era with their pantheon of Gods etc was way before 1,300bce

like they were thriving and had a far reaching empire and knowledge of the Heavens back around 6-5,000 bce


why would there be a 'Agate' (marble/crystal) Hawk Beak styled polished stone with engraved language being created so late in history?


others say the shape is reminescent of a crescent moon.. i see plenty of 'Hawk Beak' knives carried by tradespersons and hunters here in SC, and that image sure looks like a hawk beak to me...
look at either an Islam Crescent or the state flag of SC for a true 'crescent'




etched or carved Agate in 1300bce... so craftsmen were able to carve even sculpt the 13 crystal skulls, and we use this find as evidence that super hard rock could be fashioned by 'primitive' craftsmen and stone cutters/artists back then without diamond cutting tools... hmmmm


thanks for the article that can trigger a thousand thoughts