Barbarians don't get a lot of respect but a previously unknown ancient language buried in the ruins of a 2,800-year-old Middle Eastern palace may get them some.
Evidence of the long-lost language, probably spoken by a hitherto unknown people from the Zagros Mountains of western Ira, was translated to reveal the names of 60 women – probably prisoners-of-war or victims of an Assyrian forced population transfer program. But when the Cambridge archaeologist – Dr. John MacGinnis - began to examine the names in detail, he realized that 45 of them bore no resemblance to any of the thousands of ancient Middle Eastern names already known to scholars.
8th century B.C. Assyrian clay tablet with 45 mystery names written in cuneiform script. Link: The Independent.
Ancient language discovered on clay tablets found amid ruins of 2800 year old Middle Eastern palace by David Keys, The Independent
