Clay Tablet Found at Restoration Site in Turkey Possibly World’s Oldest Shopping Receipt
Workers in the old city of Alalah, possibly stumbled upon the world's oldest shopping receipt in Turkey, according to the Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism. A research team has verified that a clay tablet found by the workers contains in cuneiform records of purchases made in the 15th century BCE, IFL Science reported.
Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Ersoy, announced to the media that the researchers have found the tablet at Eski Alalah, in the southern province of Hatay, IFL Science reported. The site is also known by the name of Aççana Mound.
Workers who found the tablet were sent to the city, in order to participate in restoration work, after an earthquake. They stumbled upon it, while going about their work on the site.
As per researchers, the tablet has shopping records concerning the purchase of wooden furniture in cuneiform, IFL Science reported. Cuneiform is the oldest writing system in the world, which was developed around 5,500 years ago.
For about three millennia cuneiform was used by people across ancient Mesopotamia, IFL Science reported. The system was adopted by groups such as the Babylonians, Assyrians, and Sumerians, each of which had a distinct language. People used to write this text by impressing reed styluses into clay.
Anadolu’nun zengin mirasını gelecek nesillere taşımak üzere büyük bir titizlikle çalışıyoruz.
— Mehmet Nuri Ersoy (@MehmetNuriErsoy) July 22, 2024
Hatay’ın Reyhanlı ilçesinde "Eski Alalah" olarak bilinen Aççana Höyük’te süren çalışmalarda oldukça önemli bir tablet gün ışığına kavuştu.
İlk okumalara göre M.Ö. 15'inci yüzyıla… pic.twitter.com/vW9gqbgZwQ
Ersoy stated that the receipt on the clay was written in the Akkadian language, IFL Science reported. Akkadian language was the lingua franca of the world’s oldest Empire. The Akkadian empire's dialect was the most ancient of the Semitic languages – which include Hebrew and Arabic.
Linguists are now in the process of analyzing the text on the tablet, IFL Science reported. The first few lines detail the sale of a large number of chairs, tables, and stools, along with the identities of buyers and sellers.
Ersoy believes that such documents will allow them to understand the economic structure in play during those times, IFL Science reported.
"We believe that this tablet, weighing 28 grams [1 ounce], will provide a new perspective in terms of understanding the economic structure and state system of the Late Bronze Age," said Ersoy in a statement, IFL Science reported.