Word: cuneiforms
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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...archeologists might conclude that the inhabitants of the present world were half-literate savages gifted with great engineering ability. But if future diggers explored the broad Mesopotamian valleys of the Euphrates and Tigris, in what is now Iraq, they would find thousands of clay tablets bearing the cuneiform writing of the ancient Sumerians, Assyrians and Babylonians. Deciphering these, the diggers would read of civilizations 3,000 years or more before the Christian era, would probably conclude that here was the peak of enlightenment which their predecessors on earth had reached. So argued Edward Chiera, late professor of Assyriology...
...Clay," says Professor Chiera, "is practically indestructible." This is especially true if the clay has been baked, as some of the cuneiform writings were. Unbaked clay crumbles if left to weather on the surface, but if buried in moist ground it remains intact indefinitely. If it is dirty, it can be brushed vigorously without hurting the writing. In the mounds which were piled up by the debris of Babylonian cities built one on top of another the author estimates that 99% of history's cuneiform writings still await discovery. The Babylonians and Assyrians wrote a great deal-records...
...primitive draws the image of a gazelle to amuse himself, it is a picture; but if a hunter makes such a picture to inform the next comer that the hunting is good, it is a message. Cuneiform writing ("cuneiform" means wedge-shaped) is a direct descendant of picture-writing, in which the symbols are so formalized and simplified that they are unrecognizable as representations of real objects. When symbols were assigned for phonetic syllables, the representation of abstract ideas became possible. The Babylonians realized that they could develop an al-phabet-that is, a set of symbols each of which...
Most of the seated statues have a Sumerian cuneiform inscription in panels on the front and back. The statue of the Semitic Museum has that following inscription on the back...
...Curator also made public the acquisition of a square stone foundation box with a long cuneiform inscription of Ashur-nazir-pal II, King of Assyria from 883 to 859 B.C., summarizing his military campaigns...