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The Mysterious Origin of the Sumerians
The Mysterious Origin of the Sumerians: Unraveling the Puzzle of Ancient Civilization
The Sumerians, an ancient people who laid the foundations of civilization in Mesopotamia, have long been a subject of fascination and debate among historians and archaeologists. Known for their remarkable advancements in writing, city-building, the development of the calendar, and time-keeping systems, the Sumerians' contributions to human history are indisputable. However, the origins of these early Mesopotamian settlers remain shrouded in mystery, sparking ongoing debates and research aimed at piecing together the puzzle of this ancient civilization.
Early Settlers and Innovators
The Sumerians are credited with the development of one of the first fully developed writing systems capable of representing language in complete sentences. This breakthrough in communication underpins much of what is known about early human societies and their evolution. Additionally, they built some of the earliest cities known to man and created the fundamental timekeeping and calendar systems that are still in use today, demonstrating their architectural prowess.
Debating Sumerian Origins
The quest to understand where the Sumerians came from has led scholars to scour Sumerian texts dating back to around 3600–3500 BCE. Initially, researchers attempted to identify Sumerians based on physical characteristics, such as skull shapes, and iconographic evidence. However, the racial profiling of Sumerian origins proved inconclusive, as the iconographical representations found across Mesopotamia were highly conventionalized and did not correspond with osteological data. Moreover, efforts to connect the Sumerian language to known language families have consistently failed, adding layers of complexity to the debate over their origins.
A Cultural Melting Pot
Contrary to attempts at racial categorization, the Sumerian culture appears not to have been linked to a specific race. Interestingly, the Sumerian language shares features with diverse languages such as Basque, Georgian, and Chuchi from Siberia, suggesting a complex interplay of influences rather than a singular racial or ethnic lineage. The Sumerians' arrival in Mesopotamia, just prior to 3600 BCE during the Uruk period, marks a significant period of cultural and technological development.
The transition from the Ubaid to the Uruk culture shows archaeological evidence of a seamless cultural evolution rather than an abrupt change, suggesting that the Sumerians might have been recent arrivals who integrated and expanded upon the existing cultures. However, the debate continues as scholars argue over the implications of language and city names, crafts, and words that hint at the influence of and interactions with neighboring peoples.
An Amalgamation of Migrant Groups
Current theories posit that the Sumerians were likely an amalgamation of various migrant groups that converged in Mesopotamia. These groups, coming from different directions and speaking different languages, gradually adopted a common culture and language, weaving a rich tapestry of cultural integration that defined early Sumerian society. Genetic studies, particularly those focusing on modern Marsh Arabs, suggest a lineage that could trace back to the Sumerians, offering tantalizing clues about the genetic continuity in the region.
Despite cultural features among the Marsh Arabs that hint at South Asian influences, genetic data suggests that these influences only marginally affected their gene pool, steering the debate away from a South Asian origin for the Sumerians.
The origin and migration of the Sumerians remain one of history's great mysteries. While archaeological, linguistic, and genetic evidence provides valuable insights, the definitive origins of the Sumerians elude consensus. Their legacy, however, is unmistakable, embedded in the very foundations of civilization. As scholars continue to unravel the complex history of these ancient people, the Sumerians stand as a testament to the rich, multifaceted tapestry of human history, reminding us of the complexities and interconnectedness of ancient societies.
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Oldest Technologies Scientists Still Can't Explain
Science does not have an answer for everything. That's the case for things which are happening in the world right now, and it's also the case for things that happened in the world thousands of years ago. They don't like to talk about it, but there are many ancient sites and structures all over the planet that were built with human hands, but scientists just can't tell us how such remarkable building work was accomplished using the tools available at the time. Let's take a look at some of the most outstanding examples!
5,000-year-old cuneiform text is translated to English by a revolutionary AI system
by the archaeologist editor group
Echoes in Clay: Deciphering the Cuneiform Enigma
In the great cradle of civilization, the Fertile Crescent, humanity took its first ambitious steps towards recording history. The banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers served as the backdrop for an achievement that would indelibly shape the course of human civilization: the invention of the cuneiform script. Developed by the ancient Sumerians around 3200 BC, cuneiform became the instrument of thought, the ledger of trade, and the record of kings.
Cuneiform, named for its wedge-shaped marks, was the world's earliest writing system. Its unique characters, pressed into clay tablets with a reed stylus, enabled human expression in a recorded format, immortalizing words, ideas, and events. Over time, it transcended its Sumerian roots, being adapted by the Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Hittites, and even Persians, each contributing layers of complexity and diversity to the script. This ancient text, meticulously preserved in the earth's kiln, became our window into the rich tapestry of the ancient Near East.
Yet, despite its crucial role in charting human progress, cuneiform poses a monumental challenge. A vast corpus of texts remains untranslated; the sheer volume of writing, coupled with the complexity and variability of the script, has overwhelmed scholars for centuries. Each character in cuneiform can have multiple phonetic and semantic values, depending on the context. Moreover, the scarcity of bilingual or multilingual texts, like the famous Rosetta Stone that aided the decoding of Egyptian hieroglyphs, has further compounded the problem.
Breaking the Wedge: AI Deciphers Ancient Cuneiform, Unlocking History's Silent Echoes
Only a small number of specialists worldwide can decipher the clay tablets loaded with wedge-shaped symbols because they are so challenging to read. An AI-powered translation engine for ancient Akkadian cuneiform has now been developed by an Israeli team of archaeologists and computer scientists, making it possible to instantly translate tens of thousands of already scanned tablets into English.
The undertaking started off as Gutherz's master's thesis project at Tel Aviv University. The researchers described its neural machine translation from Akkadian to English in a research study that was peer-reviewed and published in the Oxford University Press journal PNAS Nexus in May.
More than 500,000 clay tablets containing cuneiform writing can be found in libraries, museums, and academic institutions around the world. Just a small portion of these tablets have been translated due to the enormous quantity of writings and the small number of Akkadian readers—a language no one has spoken or written in for 2,000 years.
From roughly 3,000 BCE until 100 CE, Akkadian was written and spoken in Mesopotamia and the Middle East. It served as the lingua franca of the time and enabled communication among speakers from various places. Around 2000 BCE, Assyrian Akkadian and Babylonian Akkadian diverged as separate languages. Aramaic gradually replaced Akkadian starting around 600 BCE and eventually spread to a much larger population.
Cuneiform, which involves making wedge-shaped marks on wet clay with a sharpened reed, was used to write Akkadian and its predecessor, Sumerian. The earliest known written languages are Akkadian and Sumerian cuneiform; however, Akkadian texts predominate by a wide margin.
With a new application similar to Google Translate, amateur archaeologists may try their hand at cuneiform interpretation
A complex mathematical formula known as a neural network is used in neural machine translation, which is also used by Google Translate, Baidu Translate, and other translation engines, to produce sentences in foreign languages that are more accurate and naturally constructed than sentences that are translated word-for-word.
Since translation is an art, it might be challenging to quantify what makes a "good" translation, according to Gutherz. The Best Bilingual Evaluation Understudy 4 (BLEU4), an evaluation tool designed in the early 2000s to automatically measure the correctness of machine-generated translations, was utilized by the researchers to rate the translations.
One of the research's major accomplishments was demonstrating that a high-quality translation from Cuneiform to English is feasible. Experts are typically needed to translate the cuneiform first into the Latin transliteration and then substantially into English as part of the present time-consuming research procedure.
In the 2020 publication, the team used AI to convert Akkadian cuneiform to transliterated Latin script with 97% accuracy. This is a much easier method because it translates each cuneiform symbol into a single word while maintaining the original word order.
It is far more difficult to translate Akkadian or transliterated script into English since doing so requires the computer to put complete phrases or sentences together that make sense in English, which is written in a different syntactical order.
Despite the intricacy, according to Gutherz, the AI translations outperformed expectations, even if the software is still in its infancy and far from accurate. Naturally, the AI was more accurate when reading formulaic materials with a set pattern, like royal decrees or divinations. The prevalence of "hallucinations," a term used by artificial intelligence to describe results that the machine creates that are wholly unrelated to the text presented, was higher in literary and poetic writings, such as letters from priests or treaties.
Today, countless stories etched in clay remain locked behind a language barrier, waiting to reveal the secrets of a world that existed more than five millennia ago. The meticulous labor of translation is still underway, gradually illuminating the dusky byways of our past. The task is herculean, but so too is the potential reward: to hear the echoes of ancient voices and weave together the threads of our shared human story. The mystery of cuneiform script remains one of the greatest linguistic enigmas, a testament to the immeasurable intellectual ambition of our ancestors.
Photos by Dr. Woidich
Really Unusual Find: Archaeologists Discovered a well-preserved Bronze Sword In Germany
by the Archaeologist Editor Group
During digs in the German city of Nördlingen, a bronze sword that is over 3,000 years old was found by archaeologists. The discovery was made public by the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in a press release. The sword was discovered among the ruins of burials, weapons, and the bodies of a kid, mother, and man. What kind of connections these individuals may have had to one another are yet unknown.
The sword is entirely constructed of bronze and has an octagonal blade and hilt. Due to the hilt being cast on top of the blade, making octagonal swords requires complicated technology (called applied casting).
Photos by Dr. Woidich
During the Bronze Era, decorative artifacts were made using the applied bronze casting method. It entailed layering premium bronze over a less expensive metal or clay core. This made it possible for artisans to produce intricately detailed artifacts without having to use a lot of costly bronze.
A core with the desired shape had to be made, and that core had to be covered in clay. The required pattern was then carved out of this clay, producing a negative mold. The cut-out pattern was filled with molten bronze as it was poured into the mold, creating a thin coating on top of the core. The bronze piece was taken out of the mold after cooling and hardening, and the clay core was also taken out.
Photos by Dr. Woidich
A vast range of items, including jewelry, weaponry, and everyday items, were made using applied bronze casting. The Mycenaean culture made extensive use of this method, which was particularly well-liked in the eastern Mediterranean. Applied bronze items from this era are represented in museums all around the world.
We can certainly presume that this was a real weapon despite the meticulous craftsmanship and lack of impact marks. A balance that leans more toward stabbing is indicated by the center of gravity at the front of the blade.
Investigative work is being done to determine whether the sword was produced in Bavaria or imported. In the Bronze Age, there are three major distribution hubs for this sort of octagonal sword: one in southern Germany, two in northern Germany, and one in Denmark.
In the north, certain octagonal swords may be genuine imports or the creation of "itinerant craftsmen," while others may be imitations of southern German designs, according to a comparison of casting techniques and embellishment.
The director of the Bavarian State Monument Protection Office, Matthias Pfeil, stated: "In order for our archaeologists to classify this find more properly, the sword and the burial remains must be investigated. Yet we can already state that the situation is extraordinary! Such a find is really rare!"
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