AI learns to read cuneiform: A milestone for Ancient Near Eastern Studies
The new AI tool “Palaeographicum” is revolutionizing research into the cultures of the Ancient Near East: It identifies individual variations of cuneiform signs—a huge step forward for academia.
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"In the three millennia before the common era, a highly developed civilization flourished in the Near East, leaving behind a wealth of information: on clay tablets inscribed in cuneiform. In this writing system, wedge-shaped characters were pressed with a stylus into moist clay tablets, which were then dried—resulting in a durable written document.
Most clay tablets have broken over time, and their fragments are scattered across museums around the world. Ancient Near Eastern Studies therefore faces a complex task: it must correctly piece the fragments back together. Only then is it possible to read the complete documents and gain insights into life in the Ancient Near East.
Researchers at the University of Würzburg and the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz have been working on this for many years. Their focus is on the culture of the Hittites, who lived in what is now Anatolia 3,500 years ago. This people’s “alphabet” is extensive: it consists of no fewer than 375 cuneiform signs, which represent syllables as well as entire words."
In a collaboration between Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) and the University of Baghdad, an ancient Babylonian hymn dating back over two millennia has been rediscovered and fully deciphered.
The Shamash Gate in ancient Nineveh has revealed rare evidence of two violent chapters separated by more than 2,500 years: the fall of the Assyrian capital in 612 B.C. and the battle to free Mosul from ISIS in 2017.
Excavators of Tel Hadid recently released the discovery of a unique seal stamp from the seventh century b.c.e., the time of Assyrian domination of the Levant.
Swiss-Assyrian artist Shamiran Istifan is receiving widespread acclaim for her latest exhibition at the Aargauer Kunsthaus, where her installations explore themes of beauty, migration, identity and censorship through striking visual symbolism.
In a major policy announcement, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi declared that facilitating the return of Assyrians who fled the country during two decades of conflict is now a "national and government priority."
A new academic study offers one of the most extensive multidisciplinary examinations to date of the historical relationship between the designations Assyria, Syria, and Syriac–a question that has occupied historians for centuries.
Robert Emmerich
