Researchers Claim They Deciphered Linear Elamite But a Language Expert Disagrees

The majority of the ancient Iranian language known as Linear Elamite has reportedly been deciphered by a team of scholars that includes members from the Universities of Tehran, Bologna, and Eastern Kentucky University, as well as another independent researcher.

Discovery of the Ancient Iranian Language Linear Elamite

The team discusses their work to understand the ancient language samples recovered in their study, published in the German-language journal Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie. They also provide some examples of the text translated into English.

The team's innovative techniques included comparing certain recognized cuneiform words with ones found in the Linear Elamite script. Since both languages are thought to have been spoken in some areas of the Middle East at the same time, there should be some shared vocabulary, such as expressions for rulers, titles for people or locations, or names from other literary works.

In addition, the researchers examined what they considered signs rather than words to interpret them. The scientists discovered that only 3.7% of the 300 indications they were able to recognize might be ascribed to significant entities.

The researchers believe that most of the language has been deciphered, and they have even supplied translations for some writing on the silver beakers. One text example is, "Puzur-Suinak, king of Awan, Insušinak [likely a deity] loves him."

Proto-Elamite Language Study

At a dig site on the Acropolis mound of Susa in Iran, a team of French archaeologists discovered several tablets with words carved on them in 1903. Historians have long thought the Proto-Elamite language was tied to the script on the tablets. Recent studies contend that there is just a loose connection between the two.

The University of Texas at Austin Linguists Research Center defines Proto-Elamite as the last un-deciphered writing system from the Ancient Near East, with many sources and more than 1600 published texts. In what is now Iran, it was utilized for a relatively brief time, around 3000 BC.

Since the first discovery, further items written in the same language have been discovered; currently, there are about 40 such items. The most notable of the artifacts are the writings on many metal beakers. The majority of the language has remained a mystery despite the efforts of numerous teams who have studied it and made some progress.

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Comments on the Recent Study

Live Science contacted various additional sources who were not engaged in the study to gain the opinions of several specialists on the publication. One of the comments the online publication received was from Jacob Dahl, a professor of assyriology at the University of Oxford, who expressed doubt about the team's ability to translate the text successfully.

Dahl, who is working on a different script termed proto-Elamite, disagrees with the team's assertion that Linear Elamite and proto-Elamite are closely related in the article.

Dahl is also concerned that scientists employed inscriptions from the Konar Sandal Bronze Age archaeological site (located close to Jiroft, an Iranian city) for their analysis.

Despite not being one of the eight new inscriptions crucial to the decipherment, Dahl stated that using the Konar Sandal objects raises concerns regarding the decipherment.

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