Archaeologists Stunned to Discover Thousands of Cuneiform Tablets at an Ancient Sumerian City in Iraq

Archaeologists have made a remarkable discovery of thousands of cuneiform tablets at the ancient Sumerian city of Girsu in southern Iraq, at a location known as Tablet Hill, stated Archaeology Magazine. While French archaeologists had previously uncovered tens of thousands of tablets at this site in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many believed the area had been completely depleted due to extensive looting.

The British Museum archaeologist, Sebastien Rey, challenged this assumption, drawing on experience from his excavations of a nearby temple dedicated to the warrior god Ningirsu. "We tend to say that the big sites excavated in the nineteenth century have been excavated away, that there's nothing left to find," Rey said. "But there are many treasures that we can still discover—and it's our responsibility to go back to these sites with the technologies that we have to salvage what can be salvaged," according to Archaeology Magazine. 

First, using refined drone photography, Rey, with his associate British and Iraqi archaeologist experts, pre-defined the pattern of possible walls on Tablet Hill. By digging only one trench through the mound, they discovered a stunning wall from a palace that had existed during the early second millennium B.C. A few feet further down was yet another wall, dating to the mid-third millennium B.C. Careful work at this site preserved more than 200 additional cuneiform tablets.

This is not the only discovery of importance; previously, archaeologists found 93 cuneiform tablets in the ancient city of Bassetki in Kurdistan, and 60 of them were preserved in a ceramic pot, wrapped carefully in protective clay coating, stated Smithsonian Magazine. It's possible that the vessels were covered shortly after the building was demolished, said Professor Peter Pfälzner of the University of Tübingen, who led the dig at Bassetki. "The vessels may have been hidden this way shortly after the surrounding building was destroyed. Perhaps the information inside it was meant to be protected and preserved for posterity," stated Sci News.

Sebastien Rey highlighted that, as with many mudbrick structures of Mesopotamia, the palace of Girsu was rebuilt or wholly reconstructed several times throughout its history. This pattern of architectural evolution is instructive to view the development of the city and of administrative practices.

Although most of the tablets are still unbaked and badly worn, which makes translation difficult, even small fragments have yielded fascinating details. One of the deciphered fragments from the Bassetki find mentions a temple to the goddess Gula, which could indicate religious significance.

These ancient texts could provide new insights into the history, society, and culture of this poorly known area, northern Mesopotamia, during the second millennium B.C., commented Dr. Betina Faist, philologist in the team, stated Sci News.