Archaeologists Found An Ancient Tablet With 39 Letters That Don’t Belong To Any Known Language

In a region in Georgia, a mysterious Bashplemi tablet has surfaced with a brand-new writing system that was never seen before. And it may alter current beliefs about ancient writing systems dramatically.

Measuring about 9×8 inches, the basalt tablet features 60 characters arranged in seven columns, according to archaeologists. However, they cannot confirm how this system is structured, who this writing system belongs to, or what the inscription means.

The design suggests a sophisticated level of craftsmanship, another fascinating feature of the elusive artefact, suggesting that the message held significance.

But dating the mysterious and ground-breaking tablet currently remains out of reach. Archaeologists believe the maker drilled the message upon this stone 14,000 years ago, placing it somewhere between the late Bronze and Early Iron Age.

Besides its immediate, unarguable importance as an archaeological artefact, as it holds a previously unseen writing system, it may have some connection to the legendary system of writing referenced in the myth of Jason and the Argonauts.

Furthermore, it might prove that cultural exchange was happening between the Caucasus and the neighbouring region, and it might just change everything we know about an ancient writing system in an area “long considered peripheral” in the study of the earliest human text.

A Brand New Writing System from an Untapped Archaeological Hotbed

In 2021, fishermen on Lake Bashplemi in Georgia’s famed Dmanisi region accidentally caught sight of the tablet. It had been a dry season, so an unusual object buried under lake silt stuck out, GB News reports.

What appears to be a series of indecipherable symbols, such as three horizontal lines and a swirl at the bottom, experts explain, is actually “developed and refined” for its age, though that’s unconfirmed.

The inscription even suggests remarkable skill. The maker used a conical drill to the first lay the symbols into the stone. To create a smooth series of characters, they employed rounded tools, which shows a fair amount of work went into laying the message into the stone.

Experts then speculate that the message might communicate military spoils, a construction project, or offerings to a deity.

In an attempt to draw connections with other ancient texts, similarities can be found between the new text and the Proto-Kartvelian script from the 4 millennium BCE and seals from pre-Christian Georgia, according to Archaeology News. 

Moreover, it contains traces of early Caucasian scripts, notably Georgian Mrgvlovani and Albanian, along with Phoenician and Proto-Sinaitic systems from the Near East. A hotbed of very early writing systems, in other words, that might suggest interaction occurred between these ancient groups.

“Most of the symbols used therein resemble ones found in the scripts of the Middle East, as well as those of geographically remote countries such as India, Egypt, and West Iberia,” wrote researchers in a new study in the Journal of Ancient History and Archaeology.

However, regardless, this is an entirely new form of text.

“The Bashplemi inscription does not repeat any script known to us.” 

Will The Legendary Dmanisi Finally Be Excavated?

Dmanisi holds some of the earliest Eurasian hominin remains; thus, the unique artefact comes from a historical location inhabited since the early Bronze Age, as per GB News.

Preliminary surveys of the area revealed the presence of burial mounds, ancient houses, and religious sites. Lake Bashplemi, on a volcanic plateau, however, hasn’t received the attention it deserves, Archaeology News explains, though all these signs indicate early human occupancy.

For the study of ancient writing systems, the basalt tablet might be one of the most exciting discoveries recently made that highlights this area of Georgia as one to explore further as it may even be the never-before-seen writing system from Colchis mentioned in none other than the myth of Jason and the Argonauts.

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Lost Archaeologist Finds Giant Skeletons Under The Grand Canyon

In the early 20^th century, chance led us to the gates of the underground city of giants best known in those days. It was an amazing discovery in the Grand Canyon and the press soon echoed.

The Grand Canyon was the birthplace of a culture in which people of Cyclopean proportions existed according to an article published in the Gazeta de Arizona on April 5, 1909.  A civilization that only left us some structures as a testimony of its existence.

The article mentions the discovery of a huge subterranean citadel by an explorer named GE Kinkaid, who accidentally found it while rafting on the Colorado River. It is worth mentioning that Kinkaid was a recognized archaeologist and had the financial support of the Smithsonian Institution.

According to their descriptions, the entrance to this mysterious city was at the end of a tunnel that extended for something more than 1600 meters underground.

Kinkaid was impressed that the cavern was almost inaccessible. The entrance was about 450 meters under the wall of the steep canyon. The place was in a zone protected by the government and the access was penalized under fine.

“Above a shelf that could not be seen from the river was the entrance to the cave. When I saw the chisel marks on the wall inside the entrance, I got interested, I got my gun and I went in.“ – Kinkaid said.

The architecture found suggested that the builders of that subterranean city possessed advanced engineering skills.

The central axis of the underground city made it a gigantic camera from which radiated passages similar to the radii of a wheel. The walls of the main chamber were adorned with copper weapons and tablets covered with symbols and hieroglyphic characters very similar to those we know in Egypt.

Another interesting finding was the discovery of mummified bodies inside the citadel. None of the mummies found were less than 2.74 meters and all were wrapped in dark linen. Kinkaid said he had taken photographs of one of them with a flashlight, however, none of those photos were found.

Scientists Terrifying New Discovery In Africa That Changes Everything!

Further explorations revealed interesting data on the beliefs of these alleged giants of the city.

More than 30 meters from the entrance is a room with a cross-shaped plant several tens of meters long and where an idol was found that could have been the main god of his religious system.

He was sitting cross-legged and with a lotus or lily flower in each hand. His face had oriental features as well as the carving of the cave. This idol had a certain resemblance to Buddha, although the scientists of the time did not finish assuring that it represented that religious cult.

The article also talks about the discovery of ceramics and other artefacts with trademarks having been manufactured in other parts of the world. Perhaps a rare mixture of cultures that scarcely occurs in archaeological finds, so this discovery would be of unprecedented importance.

The last camera they found on the exploration was what Kinkaid and his partner, Professor SA Jordan, a ceremonial crypt, believed to be at the end of the great hall where they found the mummies.

Unfortunately, the article does not give much more details about this discovery. Nor are there any official versions or references to this enigmatic subterranean city. The Smithsonian Institute denies having knowledge of the existence of this underground city.

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Africa: A Land of Mystery

Africa, a land shrouded in enigma and wonder, holds secrets that have baffled and intrigued humankind for centuries.

Its vast landscapes, from sprawling deserts to impenetrable jungles, are not only a cradle of civilization but also a realm where the line between reality and myth blurs. As explorers and scientists dig deeper into the continent’s mysteries, they often stumble upon phenomena that defy logic and explanation, stirring the imaginations of those who dare to uncover its hidden truths.

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READ MORE: This Discovery In Africa Scares Scientists

Amazing Discovery! 200,000 Year Old Ancient Anunnaki City Discovered In South Africa

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