Squiggles in stone reveal old words to modern scholars

[Adsos Letter]

Source: NZ Herald.com

ALMODOVAR - When archaeologists on a dig in southern Portugal last year flipped over a heavy chunk of slate and saw writing not used for more than 2500 years, they nearly broke into applause.

The enigmatic pattern of inscribed symbols curled symmetrically around the upper part of the rough-edged, yellowish stone tablet and coiled into the middle in a decorative style typical of an extinct Iberian language called southwest script.

"We didn't break into applause, but almost," says Amilcar Guerra, a University of Lisbon lecturer overseeing the excavation. "It's an extraordinary thing."

For more than two centuries, scientists have tried to decipher southwest script, believed to be the peninsula's oldest written tongue and, with Etruscan from modern-day Italy, one of Europe's first.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/science/news/article.cfm?c_id=82&objectid=10559609

[myrna minx]

1. How fascinating that they are certain that their written text is from Phoenician and Greek alphabets

, yet hardly anything is known about these people. I love that there are still mysteries left in this world. Considering that the once illusive Linear B was eventually cracked, I have no doubt that we will eventually uncover more about these people to bring a better understanding of their life and culture. Thanks for posting.

I love this sentence from the article:
"Even when they can read portions of text, scientists don't really understand what it is saying - like a child mouthing the words of a Shakespeare play."

[aquart]

2. Poo on Linear B. Linear A, now...

[myrna minx]

4. Yes. We still have the mystery of Linear A...n/t

[Confusious]

3. There's still linear A to be cracked n/t

[myrna minx]

5. Yes, yet another one our great mysteries to solve. n/t