OLDEST KNOWN DOCUMENT UNCOVERED IN JERUSALEM
Baku, July 14 (AZERTAC). Israeli archaeologists working in Jerusalem say they have uncovered a fragment of the oldest known written document ever found in the city. The tiny fragment is 600 years older than any written document found in Jerusalem.
The clay fragment is not much larger than an olive, measuring just 1.27 by 1.27 centimeters. But the age of this artifact makes it hugely significant. It is nearly 3400-years-old. The fragment was recently discovered in excavations beneath a 10th century BCE (Before the Common Era) tower that dates to the time of Israel`s King Solomon.
Dr. Eliat Mazar of Hebrew University in Jerusalem led the excavation that discovered the fragment. She says that it highlights the importance of Jerusalem long before Solomon`s time.
"It shows a very highly skilled scribe, by a scribe that most probably sat in the court of the king of Jerusalem at the time and because it was written in Jerusalem, based on the fact that it was written on the soil from Jerusalem, that we know after examination, we know this court was here in Jerusalem meaning that Jerusalem at the time was a very significant, important capital, a royal city," said Mazar.
The text is written in cuneiform in the ancient Akkadian language. Cuneiform documents were formed by pressing a reed stylus into soft clay tablets that were later hardened in the sun. The writing style is believed to have started in ancient Mesopotamia near the mouth of the Euphrates and dates as far back as the fourth millennium BCE.
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