Ben Shoemate's Notebook

Archaeologists have dated this clay fragment, found in Jerusalem, to the 14th Century B.C. It’s the oldest known example of written language:

The fragment that has been found is 2×2.8 centimeters in size and one centimeter thick. Dated to the 14th century B.C.E., it appears to have been part of a tablet and contains cuneiform symbols in ancient Akkadian (the lingua franca of that era).

The words the symbols form are not significant in themselves, but what is significant is that the script is of a very high level, testifying to the fact that it was written by a highly skilled scribe that in all likelihood prepared tablets for the royal household of the time, said Prof. Wayne Horowitz , a scholar of Assyriology at the Hebrew University Institute of Archaeology.

Link via reddit | Photo: Hebrew University photo/Sasson Tiram