Some new Linear Elamite inscriptions
Abstract
The Linear Elamite writing system was used in the late 3rd millennium in ancient Iran.
The underlying language is supposed to be Elamite – an isolate language otherwise known from cuneiform sources. 40 to 60% of the Elamite words and morphemes are decoded.
In early 2016, about ten new inscriptions and fragments were presented at the University of Hamedan, Iran. They are now in the Mahboubian Gallery. Some of these new texts are the longest ones ever found, depicting up to 200 signs.
In the past months, the Deciphering Crew at the Institut für Sprachwissenschaft, Universität Bern, has made drawings of the so far unpublished inscriptions and compiled a sign catalogue.
Preliminary results show that fragments from Gonur and Altyn Depe formerly tagged as “Linear Elamite” do not belong to the Linear Elamite text corpus.
The Deciphering Project is hoping to collaborate with scholars of different fields. The web page http://elamicon.org is an open source project.
References
Koch, Heidemarie (2007): Frauen und Schlangen. Die geheimnisvolle Kultur der Elamer in Alt-Iran. Darmstadt.
Mahboubian, Houshang (2004): Elam: art and civilization of ancient Iran, 3000-2000. London.
Meriggi, Piero (1971): La scrittura proto-elamica. Roma.
License
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