Researcher deciphers one of humanity's oldest scripts
Dating back nearly 5,000 years, Linear Elamite is one of the three oldest known scripts, along with hieroglyphics and cuneiform. It has finally been deciphered by a researcher at the University of Liège.
Used nearly 4,800 years ago in what is now southern Iran, this mysterious script known as Linear Elamite had never before been deciphered. François Desset, a researcher in ancient sciences at ULiège, has finally understood these texts that were thought to be forever unreadable.
Unlike hieroglyphics and cuneiform, both of which were deciphered in the 19th century, Linear Elamite, named after the ancient kingdom of Iran called Elam, remained a great mystery.
First discovered in 1903, this script has been the subject of scientific research for over a century by leading linguists and researchers, none of whom have been able to unlock its secrets. But this did not discourage François Desset. Since 2006 and his first participation in the archaeological excavations at Jiroft in Iran, this researcher has been working tirelessly with antique collectors to collate as many texts as possible in Linear Elamite.
His work of deciphering will truly begin in 2017, based on 45 texts written in this script, which takes the form of drawings resembling geometric shapes. Unlike hieroglyphics, which represent people, objects or animals, Linear Elamite is abstract.
It was therefore by starting with the names of deities and kings who ruled in Iran around 2000 BC, and whose traces were also left in cuneiform texts, that François Desset was able to make connections and finally decipher the world's oldest purely phonetic writing system.
A major discovery that has brought international recognition to the University of Liège!