These days, most people do a lot of their shopping by clicking a few buttons. That might be convenient, but it can make it difficult to keep track of when your new armoire or bookshelf will actually show up. In ancient Turkey, somebody kept such details written down on a palm-sized piece of clay.
The Accana Mound is the site of the ancient Anatolian city
of Alalah, which served as the capital of the Mukis Kingdom. The ruins found
there date as far back as 4,000 years ago. At an excavation at the Accana
Mound, researchers recently unearthed a small clay tablet inscribed with
cuneiform writing. A study of the tablet has narrowed its origin to some time
in the 15th century BC, during the Late Bronze Age.
Initial readings of the tablet’s Akkadian cuneiform
revealed details of a major furniture purchase, including an ample number of
wooden tables, chairs, and stools. The experts are still working through the writing
and are slowly gathering information about the buyers and sellers involved.
Therefore, this small tablet offers a window into the city’s economic
processes. Alalah was located along a trade route at the time, so it would have
been a center of commerce in addition to being a capital.
The small piece of clay measures only 4.2 centimeters by
3.5 centimeters and is just 1.6 centimeters thick. It weighs 28 grams. But
despite its small size, the tablet will help paint a much larger picture of
Bronze Age Turkey.
There have been other similar discoveries in the region,
including in 2023 when another cuneiform tablet was discovered that details the
purchase of an entire city and, one presumes, the furniture in it.
The area was first excavated in the late 1930s. But, after
finding this clay list of furniture, it seems there’s still plenty of things to
discover.
And who knows? Perhaps the tablet’s details will provide
some home-décor inspiration.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/archaeologists-uncovered-a-mysterious-ancient-tablet-with-major-historical-implications/ar-AA1M0JK3?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=fdce9a9bb7794d6189ca2cd589838f5c&ei=14
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