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Unknown ancient language found on unearthed Assyrian tablets

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posted on May, 11 2012 @ 02:52 AM
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Archaeologists Discover Lost Language
(sciencedaily.com)

ScienceDaily (May 10, 2012) — Evidence for a forgotten ancient language which dates back more than 2,500 years, to the time of the Assyrian Empire, has been found by archaeologists working in Turkey.


Researchers working at Ziyaret Tepe, the probable site of the ancient Assyrian city of Tušhan, believe that the language may have been spoken by deportees originally from the Zagros Mountains, on the border of modern-day Iran and Iraq.

In keeping with a policy widely practised across the Assyrian Empire, these people may have been forcibly moved from their homeland and resettled in what is now south-east Turkey, where they would have been set to work building the new frontier city and farming its hinterland.

The evidence for the language they spoke comes from a single clay tablet, which was preserved after it was baked in a fire that destroyed the palace in Tušhan at some point around the end of the 8th century BCE.


Ancient language discovered on clay tablets found amid ruins of 2800 year old Middle Eastern palace
(independent.co.uk)


Archaeologists have discovered evidence for a previously unknown ancient language – buried in the ruins of a 2800 year old Middle Eastern palace.

The discovery is important because it may help reveal the ethnic and cultural origins of some of history’s first ‘barbarians’ – mountain tribes which had, in previous millennia, preyed on the world’s first great civilizations, the cultures of early Mesopotamia in what is now Iraq.


Both articles above are a good read, if you are interested in ancient cultures. They depict the Assyrian practice of shipping their conquered populaces around to their hinterlands for farming or other menial duties as the demands of the empire dictate. The unknown language was found on one Assyrian cuneiform tablet and largely consists of the names of women from a conquered territory sent abroad. The researchers have posited the language may belong to one of several languages associated with various ethnic cultures living in the region of Turkey prior to it's fall to Assyrians, and until now no written record of these languages have ever been found.



posted on May, 11 2012 @ 03:21 AM
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Interesting find and I will be reading more but...

I don't understand how they know the writing on the tablets is mostly Women's names if the language is unknown with no previously written records of the language as well.

Maybe I'm missing something here?

SnF

Peace


The unknown language was found on one Assyrian cuneiform tablet and largely consists of the names of women from a conquered territory sent abroad. The researchers have posited the language may belong to one of several languages associated with various ethnic cultures living in the region of Turkey prior to it's fall to Assyrians, and until now no written record of these languages have ever been found.





edit on 11-5-2012 by jude11 because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 11 2012 @ 04:17 AM
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Yeah, how do they know it's the names of women if the language is unknown?

Well, it seems not much has changed regarding conquest and colonialism from back then until recent times.

That's civilization - the more things changed the more they stayed the same.
edit on 11-5-2012 by halfoldman because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 11 2012 @ 04:30 AM
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I found this interesting...


Another theory is that it was the language spoken by the Mushki -- a people who were migrating to Eastern Anatolia at around the time the tablet was made. This idea seems less plausible, however, as to appear on the list of the Assyrian administration, these people would either have infiltrated the Empire or been captured, and historians have evidence for neither.


It reminded me of the system at Ellis Island, when new immigrants used to arrive, if they weren't literate and couldn't write their own name, and the administrative clerk couldn't work out the spelling they just wrote whatever seemed to be the closest facsimile...I wonder if that is what we are seeing here too.



posted on May, 11 2012 @ 12:59 PM
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Although historians already know that the Zagros Mountains were in a region invaded and annexed by the Assyrians, it remains, to date, the one area under Assyrian occupation for which no known language exists. That makes it tempting to link the text on the tablet to the same region. An Assyrian King, Esarhaddon, even referred to an unidentified language, Mekhranian, which supposedly hailed from the Zagros, but in practice the area was probably a patchwork of chiefdoms and more than one dialect may have been in use.

"If correct this suggests that Iran was home to previously unknown languages," MacGinnis said. "The immediate impression is that the names on this tablet were those of women who belonged to an isolated community. It may be, however, that there were others whom we still have to find out about."


The names appearing on the tablet appear to be from an unknown language, but written in cuneiform by the Assyrians, one has to assume from the article the Assyrians recorded the names as best they could in their own written language. The unknown language was a spoken language with no (at least no known) written component.



posted on May, 11 2012 @ 06:17 PM
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Careful.

Some of the people that write their own flavor of history.....

Oh never mind.



posted on May, 11 2012 @ 08:16 PM
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posted on May, 13 2012 @ 01:43 PM
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EDIT: Just read blackmarketeer's post. But where did you source this information from is all I want to know. You're wording it as if its fact so i'm assuming you have sources to back it up. Not doubting you, just interested.
edit on 13-5-2012 by OGOldGreg because: (no reason given)

edit on 13-5-2012 by OGOldGreg because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 13 2012 @ 01:46 PM
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Originally posted by Biliverdin
I found this interesting...


Another theory is that it was the language spoken by the Mushki -- a people who were migrating to Eastern Anatolia at around the time the tablet was made. This idea seems less plausible, however, as to appear on the list of the Assyrian administration, these people would either have infiltrated the Empire or been captured, and historians have evidence for neither.


It reminded me of the system at Ellis Island, when new immigrants used to arrive, if they weren't literate and couldn't write their own name, and the administrative clerk couldn't work out the spelling they just wrote whatever seemed to be the closest facsimile...I wonder if that is what we are seeing here too.



Very nice Theory,and I suspect,that this was probably the case.

Too bad we probably wont know the truth of it,but exciting none the less.....




posted on May, 13 2012 @ 02:08 PM
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It's probably a list of woman's names that the great civilizations of the area kidnapped as they were plundering these peoples tribes. I think that bush people would not have attacked the civilizations unless provoked. A bear does not attack unless threatened. I doubt if these people were cannibals because I never hear of evidence of cannibals writing. I'm sure that the "civilized" people back then had a different opinion of who was good and who was evil, after all civilized people of the time were the ones to have slaves. Was civilization actually a creation of evil
Are our perceptions all messed up



posted on May, 13 2012 @ 03:48 PM
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Originally posted by sonnny1
Very nice Theory,and I suspect,that this was probably the case.

Too bad we probably wont know the truth of it,but exciting none the less.....



I suppose though, behaviourally, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that this is the 'way' things are done in civilisations, and that this is just the earliest example of that behaviour. What it doesn't tell us though is why they were listing the names. Were they doing it for the same reason as the Nazis, for slavery purposes? Like at Ellis Island, for absorbing migrant workers?

I suspect, given that they were all women, that they were going to the harem...that's another thing that seldom changes either
The men folk, most likely, would like those in most regime changes, have been eliminated already leaving only females to be registered.



posted on May, 13 2012 @ 04:11 PM
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Originally posted by Biliverdin


I suspect, given that they were all women, that they were going to the harem...that's another thing that seldom changes either
The men folk, most likely, would like those in most regime changes, have been eliminated already leaving only females to be registered.



And the poor male slaves........Not a mention.




I agree though. I think you nailed it.



posted on May, 13 2012 @ 04:39 PM
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.Just wow,
17 flags about 11 posts for an unknown tablet and it's author
that someone has deduced was a list of female names 2800 years ago.
Just wow

Why not a grocery list? Either way it would be tasty



posted on May, 13 2012 @ 04:44 PM
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Originally posted by longjohnbritches
.Just wow,
17 flags about 11 posts for an unknown tablet and it's author
that someone has deduced was a list of female names 2800 years ago.
Just wow

Why not a grocery list? Either way it would be tasty


Oh come now Longjohn.........


Wheres your sense of mystery ??

OP did the thread,justice.......



posted on May, 13 2012 @ 04:49 PM
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I suppose though, behaviourally, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that this is the 'way' things are done in civilisations, and that this is just the earliest example of that behaviour. What it doesn't tell us though is why they were listing the names. Were they doing it for the same reason as the Nazis, for slavery purposes? Like at Ellis Island, for absorbing migrant workers?


Given that the Assyrians were shipping populations of settled/conquered territories to outlying lands, it's not likely they would record the names of every member of those lands, but rather the names of the elites and officials of those people. This tablet was found in a palace throne room, it may have been a record of the higher ranking women of the court of that deposed chiefdom, or it's harem, or relations of the deposed leaders, etc.

I didn't see any mention of the contents of the rest of that tablet, to put this list into context - although it suggests the women's names came from a region north of the Assyrian empire (in a previously conquered region), and were sent to this new 'frontier town' in the Anatolian peninsula - probably as sex slaves to the Assyrian officials overseeing it's construction.

Still, it's amazing how much information about history can be gleaned from such a seemingly-insignificant amount of writing on just one tablet.



posted on May, 13 2012 @ 05:34 PM
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reply to post by Blackmarketeer
 


Think about what you say here.
A THRONE in a frontier town.
That would have to be like the first commode in town.
sorry for being picky but come on now.
ljb



posted on May, 13 2012 @ 05:38 PM
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Originally posted by sonnny1

Originally posted by longjohnbritches
.Just wow,
17 flags about 11 posts for an unknown tablet and it's author
that someone has deduced was a list of female names 2800 years ago.
Just wow

Why not a grocery list? Either way it would be tasty


Oh come now Longjohn.........


Wheres your sense of mystery ??

OP did the thread,justice.......





I guess I'm just jealous. lol
This stuff is all good. Being a stick in the mud is hard work too.
cheers to you and the OP ljb



posted on May, 13 2012 @ 05:54 PM
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reply to post by longjohnbritches
 


All good LJB.........



I need the humor...........



posted on May, 13 2012 @ 06:07 PM
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Originally posted by sonnny1
reply to post by longjohnbritches
 


All good LJB.........



I need the humor...........


The best medicine.
I look at these discussions something like a bunch of folk sitting round the fire after a hard days work.
The libations are passed and the opinions fly. Sometimes the fists and bottles.
But in the morning after a head dunk in the creek and some coffee there are usually words spoken like " See ya next time brother".
lol ljb
PS black has to be laughing all the way to the flag bank.



posted on May, 14 2012 @ 04:43 AM
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Originally posted by sonnny1
And the poor male slaves........Not a mention.



The thing is though, that slaves revolt. Which is why those with fighting ability are generally eradicated. Those retained are generally only those with transferable skills, and the young, who can be re-programmed. The warrior and hunter class, which would have made up the male heirarchy would have been eliminated, to do anything else, would have been, on the Assyrians part, foolish. And the Assyrians didn't get where they were by making such silly mistakes.

I was watching the film 'Valhalla Rising' on Friday night, and I came to the conclusion that the message it imparts, is that it is acceptable, in terms of society, for brutality to be used for financial profit, and for the imposition of dominant ideology, but not for achieving personal freedom, that is what will send you to 'hell'. That is, very much what we have been programmed, since way back when, to conform to, men especially. The film also highlighted brilliantly, that when those constraints are removed, given the depth of that programming, that we soon revert to being little more than animals that can talk, we need the structure. Though the central character, 'One--Eye' by his muteness, symbolises that animals because they cannot talk have a moral ambiguity that transcends the basest elements of humanity, he kills for survival, not for pleasure, not for revenge, not to impose his will, and not to improve his position. Very good film. Anyway, my point being, since I am also at the moment re-reading Richard Rhodes's 'Masters of Death', is that we haven't evolved in anyway since the days of yore, we have only evolved more humane ways of killing and of imposing our will on others. If you believe, as I do, in genetic memory, it becomes easy to see why we are the way we are and why it is so difficult for us to change. The fight has been bred out of us. Or for us ladies, we have learnt that, when push comes to shove, our best chance of survival comes from getting on our backs and thinking of England...




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