Archaeologists discover new language

 

Evidence for a forgotten ancient language which dates back more than 2,500 years, to the time of the Assyrian Empire, has been found by archaeologists working in Turkey.

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Researchers working at Ziyaret Tepe, the probable site of the ancient Assyrian city of Tušhan, believe that the language may have been spoken by deportees originally from the Zagros Mountains, on the border of modern-day Iran and Iraq.
In keeping with a policy widely practised across the Assyrian Empire, these people may have been forcibly moved from their homeland and resettled in what is now south-east Turkey, where they would have been set to work building the new frontier city and farming its hinterland.
The evidence for the language they spoke comes from a single clay tablet, which was preserved after it was baked in a fire that destroyed the palace in Tušhan at some point around the end of the 8^th century BCE. Inscribed with cuneiform characters, the tablet is essentially a list of the names of women who were attached to the palace and the local Assyrian administration.
The tablet is currently being stored in Diyarbakir, Turkey, where it is hoped that it will eventually go on public display. Dr MacGinnis’ report on its decipherment is published in the April issue of the Journal of Near Eastern Studies.

In brief...

• Archaeologists have been working at Ziyaret Tepe since 1997 and the site, in western Turkey, is widely thought to be the original site of the Assyrian frontier city of Tušhan. Zirayet Tepe, literally “pilgrimage mound”, consists of a central mound about 30 metres high, and a surrounding lower town of about 30 hectares.
• The tablet studied by John MacGinnis was found in what may have been the governor’s throne room in the remains of the palace on the site. It was written in Neo-Assyrian script (Cuneiform), and lists women attached to the palace. There are about 60 names and most belong to an unidentified language.
• The most plausible explanation is that this language is from Western Iran. We already know that the Assyrians deported people from the Zagros Mountains area of modern-day Iran, but we don't know anything about the language that they spoke. It has also been speculated that a language referred to by the Assyrian King, Esarhaddon, called Mehkranian, may be what we are seeing here.
• Deportation was a common practice in the Assyrian Empire. It was an approach which helped the Assyrians to consolidate power, by breaking the control of the ruling elite in newly-conquered areas. The deportees were set to work building cities or labouring in the agricultural hinterland of these new settlements.