The artefact is believed to be from the 15th century BC.
Discovered after restoration work following two earthquakes in Old Alalah City in Hatay’s Reyhanli district, Türkiye, the tablet is estimated to be around 3,500 years old.
Need To Know reports that the tablet features Akkadian cuneiform writing.
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According to the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Ersoy, the tablet contains records of a shopping list detailing substantial furniture purchases, including wooden tables, chairs, and stools.
The earthquakes occurred in February 2023, but the discovery was not announced until Monday, July 22, 2024.
John Hopkins, a faculty member and associate doctor at a university, collaborated with Jacob Lauinger and doctoral student Zeynep Türker on the project.
They determined the tablet measures up to 4.2cm thick and weighs 28g.
Researchers hope the find will illuminate the economic structure and state system of the Late Bronze Age, preserving its rich heritage for future generations.
The tablet is still under study to decipher the exact number of items bought, the buyer, and the intended recipients.
This is not the first intriguing tablet discovered in Türkiye. In May 2023, Kimiyoshi Matsumura, an archaeologist at the Japanese Institute of Anatolian Archaeology, found a 3,300-year-old clay artefact.
This tablet detailed a “lost” language and described a catastrophic ancient “disaster” that supposedly struck four cities.
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