19 October 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Elamite clay tablet discovered 4500 years old, in southwest Iran

A clay tablet, estimated to be from the Elam period, about 4500 years old, was recently discovered in southwestern Iran.

The clay tablet found in the Ramhormoz district of Khuzestan province is thought to date from about 2700-539 BC.

The tablet which bears cuneiform inscriptions was found during a cultivation process on a personal farm in Ramhormoz county [of Khuzestan province], a senior police official in charge of protecting cultural heritage said on Monday.

“According to examinations conducted by experts of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts, the object has been assessed to date from the Elamite era,” the police commander said, CHTN reported.

The official, however, did not provide further detail about the prehistorical piece of document.



📣 Our WhatsApp channel is now LIVE! Stay up-to-date with the latest news and updates, just click here to follow us on WhatsApp and never miss a thing!!



Elamite
Francois Desset, who is an archaeologist specializing in Near Eastern Archaeology, has deciphered a 4400-year-old cuneiform bas-relief. Photo: Tehran Times

Documents from the second period, which lasted from the 16th to the 8th century BC, are written in cuneiform; the stage of the language found in these documents is sometimes called Old Elamite.

The last period of Elamite texts is that of the reign of the Achaemenian kings of Persia (6th to 4th century BC), who used Elamite, along with Akkadian and Old Persian, in their inscriptions. The language of this period, also written in the cuneiform script, is often called New Elamite.

Last November, French archaeologist Francois Desset publicized that he had deciphered a 4400-year-old cuneiform bas-relief in a study, which he said might be a “cultural revolution” in the history of writing in the world scene.

This newly deciphered script is Linear Elamite, a system used by the Elamites who lived in Iran.
This newly deciphered script is Linear Elamite, a system used by the Elamites who lived in Iran.

And this discovery is incredible because until now the oldest writing system from Mesopotamia with proto-wedge-shaped tablets from the Bronze Age around 3300 BC. With the deciphering of this new system of writing, we now know that around -2300 BC.

Another script with linear Elamite existed and that one of its oldest forms, the Proto-Elamite script, is as old as the first Mesopotamian cuneiform texts. François Desset explains that the Mesopotamian Proto-Cuneiform script did not produce the Iranian Proto-Elamite, but that they were actually two contemporary systems that evolved and changed in two different periods.

Elam, located in the region of the modern-day provinces of Ilam and Khuzestan in Iran, was one of the most impressive civilizations of the ancient world. It was never a cohesive ethnic kingdom or polity but rather a federation of different tribes governed at various times by cities such as Susa, Anshan, and Shimashki until it was united during the Middle Elamite Period, briefly, as an empire. The name Elam was given to the region by others – the Akkadians and Sumerians of Mesopotamia – and is thought to be their version of what the Elamites called themselves – Haltami (or Haltamti) – meaning “those of the high country”. ‘Elam’, therefore, is usually translated to mean “highlands” or “high country” as it was comprised of settlements on the Iranian Plateau which stretched from the southern plains to the elevations of the Zagros Mountains.

Related Articles

Unique Bronze Box Depicting a Roman Temple Unearthed in the Canabae of Legio V Macedonica at Turda, Romania

7 October 2025

7 October 2025

Archaeologists uncover a luxurious Roman domus and a one-of-a-kind bronze box in the civilian quarter of Legio V Macedonica at...

New Museum being Built for the Stolen Goddess Cybele in Western Turkey

12 June 2021

12 June 2021

A marble statue of the Anatolian mother goddess Cybele, which was returned to its native home of Turkey’s Afyonkarahisar will...

From ‘Empty Lands’ to Rich History: Discovery of the First Bronze Age Settlement in Maghreb, Dating to 2,000 BC

15 March 2025

15 March 2025

Researchers at the University of Barcelona have made a remarkable discovery: the first Bronze Age settlement in the Maghreb region...

Three Strange Skull Modifications Discovered in Viking Women

31 March 2024

31 March 2024

In recent years, research has provided evidence for permanent body modification in the Viking Age. The latest of these investigations...

The Amazon rainforest was once home to ancient cities – A vast network of 2,500-year-old garden cities

12 January 2024

12 January 2024

Aerial surveys have revealed the largest 2,500-year-old ancient cities in the Amazon, hidden for thousands of years by lush vegetation...

Saudi Archaeologists have discovered a pre-Islamic Musnad inscription and a bronze bullhead

18 February 2023

18 February 2023

Saudi archaeologists have discovered the longest pre-Islamic Musnad inscription -of the ancient south Arabian script- and three gold rings and...

The oldest evidence of human use of tobacco was discovered in Utah

11 October 2021

11 October 2021

According to recent research, burnt seeds discovered in the Utah desert suggest that humans used tobacco initially and that some...

Archaeologists Discovered One of the Earliest Christian Buildings in Bahrain

14 July 2024

14 July 2024

Archaeologists have uncovered one of the earliest known Christian buildings in the Arabian Gulf, located in Samahij, Bahrain, and providing...

New study: Human brains preserve in diverse environments for at least 12 000 years

21 March 2024

21 March 2024

A study by forensic anthropologist Alexandra Morton-Hayward and her team from the University of Oxford has shown that the human...

Ancient city site unearthed in Central China produces fortune-telling relics

8 February 2024

8 February 2024

Bone slips used for “fortune-telling activities” and “ancient sacrificial ceremonies” were unearthed during excavations at an archaeological site in Puyang,...

Ancient Walled Oases Unveiled in Saudi Arabia Reveal 4,000 Years of Desert Settlement

30 June 2025

30 June 2025

A groundbreaking archaeological discovery has revealed a vast network of ancient walled oases in the Arabian Desert, dating back over...

3000 years old wooden wishing well discovered in Germany

7 January 2023

7 January 2023

In the town of Germering, in the Germany state of Bavaria, archaeologists have unearthed the remains of a well-preserved Bronze...

Researchers extract ancient DNA from a 2,900-year-old clay brick

6 September 2023

6 September 2023

Researchers have successfully extracted ancient DNA from a 2,900-year-old clay brick, uncovering a wealth of information about the plant life...

The history of Kültepe Mound in central Turkey goes back another 300 years

12 December 2021

12 December 2021

In Kültepe, where the first written documents of Anatolia were unearthed, the date based on 5 thousand years was updated...

Chinese Paleontologists discovered a 170-million-year-old flower

29 March 2023

29 March 2023

Chinese paleontologists discovered fossils of an ancient plant dating back approximately 170 million years. The Chinese Academy of Sciences Nanjing...