Excavating Cuneiform Tablets in Iraq with the Girsu Project Curator's Corner S8 Ep3

[Ptah]

The British Museum is currently excavating at the ancient Sumerian city of Girsu, in Southern Iraq. However, most of the Girsu Project's time has been spent, not so much excavating the ancient city itself, but excavating through the spoil heaps (piles of dirt) left behind by French archaeologist over 80 years ago. Within these great mounds of dirt are countless objects, including cuneiform tablets, that were abandoned, and that are currently at risk of being lost forever due to erosion of those spoil heaps.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

1. Have Republikkkans banned 'em yet?

[wnylib]

2. What a shame that they were dug up and dumped.

Besides damage to the materials themselves, the positioning of them on their original context has been lost. But since they are written artifacts, they can tell a lot of their own story when deciphered.

It's like finding a history book and reading it. But with such small, fragmentary pieces, it will take a lot of work to read the materials in as full of a record as possible to put together.

I've always been fascinated by ancient written records that require deciphering. It's like a detective mystery to solve.