The ANNOTICO Report
It was the religious hub of Sumerian civilizations at
the start of a series of dynasties that ruled
Long before the Egyptians, the Sumerians invented the
wheel and developed the first mathematical system .
The most famous classic of ancient literature,
Gilgamesh, was written at
Here, Italian archeologists working in
This is an an exceptional
find, and leads one to suppose they will
lead to a still buried library, with thousands more tablets, that may make
the fabled and fabulous city, a breathtaking reality.
WRITINGS COULD LEAD TO BURIED LIBRARY.
(ANSA)
-
March 28 - 2006
Italian
archeologists working in
The tablets bear around 500 engravings of a literary and
historical nature, according to team leader Silvia Chiodi .
"This is an an
exceptional find," she said, noting that the area in question had
previously only yielded prehistoric artefacts .
She said the tablets, made of clay and bitumen, were
discovered by chance at an archaeological site not far from the location of the
ancient city .
"I was looking for a wall structure spotted by an
airborne photo when I spotted a small inscription on bitumen and then realised it wasn't the only one" .
An expert on Sumerian civilisation,
Giovanni Pettinato, said the finds probably dated
back to one of
"The most surprising thing is the time span the
tablets cover, ranging from 2,700 BCE, the First Dynasty of!
"The place where the tablets were found, not far
from the surface, leads one to suppose they contain information from a
library," he said .
"There could be thousands of them down there" .
Chiodi said the tablets would probably occupy a prominent place in a
new Virtual Museum of Iraq which Italy is building to show people what
Baghdad's celebrated museum of antiquities looked like before it was looted in
the wake of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq .
About a half of 40 star attractions of the museum have
yet to be retrieved .
Of the 15,000 items taken from storeooms,
8,000 have not been returned despite an amnesty .
It was the religious hub of Sumerian civilisation
at the start of a series of dynasties that ruled
Long befor! e
the Egyptians, the Sumerians invented the wheel and developed the first
mathematical system .
The most famous classic of ancient literature,
Gilgamesh, was written at
The most prominent monument at the site is the best
preserved ziggurat, or stepped pyramid, in the Arab world .
It was built by the Sumerians around 4000 BCE and
restored by Nebuchadnezzar in the sixth century BCE .
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