While casually reading news about a slate tablet unearthed in Spain , a sharp - eyed research worker find the archaeologist had missed a huge discovery : not only did it feature the engravings of battle warriors , but also the secret rudiment of an ancient language .
The 20 - centimeter ( 7.8 - inch ) tab was recently unearth during an archaeological excavation near the Spanish Ithiel Town of Guareña . Known asCasas del Turuñuelo , the site belong to the lateTartessian civilizationthat developed in the southwest Iberian Peninsula around 2,500 long time ago .
When the Spanish National Research Councilrevealed the discoveryon June 6 , they simply explained that it depicted battle somebody who were identified as warriors .
Along with the alphabet, the tablet has the faint outline of warriors.Image credit: E. Rodríguez/M. Luque/CSIC
The tidings caught the care of Joan Ferrer i Jané , a calculator scientist and expert in Paleohispanic languages at the University of Barcelona , who quickly realize the artefact was even more significant than the initial news report had suggested .
“ Beyond the figures , when I looked at the brass I insure that on one of the sides , there seemed to be a Paleo - Latino augury ; a star sign that can not be confused with any other , ” he said in astatement .
He contacted the Institute of Archeology of Mérida for good images of the slab to discover it contained a beautiful ( and very rarified ) case of southern Paleohispanic authorship .
“ After take the figure of speech , everything indicates that it is a southern book alphabet with the initial sequence ABeKaTuIKeLBaNS?ŚTaUE , which is almost the same as documented in the Spanish alphabet , except for the 11th mark , which has a special shape , " explained Ferrer .
Paleohispanic script – the writing organization used in theIberian Peninsulabefore the Latin alphabet arrived – are divided into at least two families : the northeasterly family and the southerly family . It is believed all of these scripts halt from the Phoenician writing system , produce by the Phoenicia civilization that fly high around 3,000 years ago along the coast of the easterly Mediterranean in modern - day Lebanon , Syria , and Israel .
The newfangled breakthrough is particularly remarkable as there are only two other pieces of evidence that showalphabetsof southern Paleohispanic composition . As such , we make love very little about this writing scheme .
There may even be letters or symbolisation that are yet to be fall upon ; the bottom part of the tablet is broken off , but Ferrer said that the slate might have once depict as many as 32 symbol .
“ This alphabet has 27 signs and is the only complete one we acknowledge to particular date . Another was find in the digging of Villasviejas del Tamuja ( Cáceres ) , but it is very fragmented . It only has some central polarity . Therefore , [ the new ABCs ] would be the third example and provides a lot of information , ” explain Ferrer .
