Maltese Clay Sticks From Syria 500 BCE

Photo Glenn Schwartz, Johns Hopkins University. Letter assignments by Olmsted. Somehow the archaeologists see the letters SILANU, but of course can't translate it.

Clay Stick 1

(November 26, 2024)

These small clay stick (5 cm long) was found on or in the top layers of the floor of a tomb at Tell el-Marra in Syria. This was an ancient city  located between modern-day Aleppo and the Euphrates River. The floor dates to 2400 BCE based on radiocarbon dating of some items found within it.

This was discovered on an 2004 archaeological dig led by Glenn Schwartz, an archaeologist at Johns Hopkins University. He discovered 4 in total along with three others bearing similar texts. In 2021 Schwartz described the cylinders in an Italian journal called Pasiphae. 

The letter style on this stick is Maltese dating to 500 BCE so someone tossed it into the tomb at date latter than the tombs construction. The first word of this text has been broken off. The stick's text is stating that the emotion magic is interfering with the magic coming out of the dark new moon god Su (astrology magic).

Translation in Akkadian (Med Text 66.1)

(read left to right. Capital letters on object. Small letters are inferred Inner vowels. Verbs are italic bold, Dual use letters are E/H, I/Y, U/W, and '/A in which vowel appears at beginning of words except for Yahu which is keeping its traditional Hebrew transliteration) 
  1. [ ] Gi Tu UZu (Med 66.1.1)

In English

Reference

Stephanie Pappas (November 22, 2024) World’s Oldest Alphabet Found on an Ancient Clay Gift Tag. Scientific American. Online at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/worlds-oldest-alphabet-discovered/

Photo Glenn Schwartz, Johns Hopkins University.

Clay Stick 2

(November 26, 2024)

Translation in Akkadian (Med Text 66.2)

(read left to right. Capital letters on object. Small letters are inferred Inner vowels. Verbs are italic bold, Dual use letters are E/H, I/Y, U/W, and '/A in which vowel appears at beginning of words except for Yahu which is keeping its traditional Hebrew transliteration) 
  1. Ba'u ḪaBu (Med 66.1.2)

In English

Reference

Stephanie Pappas (November 22, 2024) World’s Oldest Alphabet Found on an Ancient Clay Gift Tag. Scientific American. Online at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/worlds-oldest-alphabet-discovered/