17 February 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

The Dispilio Tablet: may be the earliest known written text

Although traditional archeology claims that writing was not invented in Sumer between 3000 and 4000 BC, an artifact that contradicted this belief was found in 1993 in the northern Greek province of Kastoria.

The Dispilio Tablet is a wooden tablet bearing inscribed symbols dated between 7260 BC and 5250 BC; the table was discovered in Dispilio Lake settlement, Makednos municipality of Kastoria, by professor of prehistoric archaeology George Chourmouziadis.

A group of people used to occupy the Dispilio Lake settlement and the Dispilio tablet was one of many artifacts that were found in the area.

The Dispilio Tablet (also known as the Dispilio Scripture or Disk) is a wooden tablet bearing inscribed symbols (charagmata), dated (according to the carbon 14 method) to about 7300 years (5260 BC) before present.

Ancient Dispilio Disk And Traditional History Of Writing | Ancient Pages

Antonios Keramopoulos, a Greek university professor, coincidence discovered the lake town of Dispilio by accident in 1932. Archaeological excavations at the site began in 1992, supervised by George Chourmouziadis, a professor of prehistoric archaeology at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki.

A multitude of artifacts was discovered in the Dispilio lake community, including ceramics, structural elements, fruits, bones, figurines, the first Neolithic flute discovered in Europe, and the most important discovery, the Dispilio Tablet.

Photo: Greekreporter.com

The text on the tablet includes a type of engraved writing which probably consists of a form of writing that pre-existed Linear B writing used by the Mycenaean.

Professor Hourmouziadis suggested that such writings, yet to be deciphered, could be any form of communication, including symbols representing counting goods. But unfortunately, we don’t have a Rosetta stone to decipher the pre-existed Linear B writing yet!

There was some damage to the tablet when it was abruptly exposed to the oxygen-rich environment outside of the mud and water it was immersed in for a long period of time. The tablet is now under preservation. As of 2021, the full academic publication of the tablet apparently awaits the completion of conservation work.

The Dispilio tablet. Source: Roptron

Related Articles

“Oracle Bone Inscriptions”, the world’s oldest writing system that has not disappeared in history

5 June 2023

5 June 2023

“Jiaguwen,” or the oracle bone inscriptions, are thought to be the earliest fully-developed characters as well as the source of...

The Nightmare of the Roman Soldiers “Carnyx”

9 July 2023

9 July 2023

The Carnyx was a brass musical instrument used as a psychological weapon of war by the ancient Celts between 300...

700 Years After Dante’s Death, His Handwritten Notes Are Discovered

11 July 2021

11 July 2021

Dante Alighieri, an Italian poet, and scholar are best known for his masterwork La Commedia (also known as The Divine...

Famous Celtic hero bust of the Czech Republic “The head of Mšecké Žehrovice”

5 May 2022

5 May 2022

Located in the Czech Republic, the Mšecké Žehrovice’s head makes an appealing piece with its delightful curling mustaches- “perhaps the...

A Pagan cemetery belongs to the Late Roman Empire period in Istanbul

12 June 2022

12 June 2022

During the restoration of the ancient Sheikh Suleiman Mosque, which was restored as part of the Med-Art Education Project by...

“Dholavira,” the settlement with the world’s oldest signboard

16 August 2021

16 August 2021

Dholavira, also known as Kotda (which means “big fort”), is one of the islands in Kutch’s vast desert. The city...

Martyr Skeletons Dressed in Jewels “Catacomb Saints”

16 September 2021

16 September 2021

The story of the saints in the catacombs of Northern Europe is a peculiar story. It is rooted in the...

From Prehistoric Georgia ‘World’s oldest wine”

12 July 2022

12 July 2022

For many years in a row, wine has been a popular alcoholic beverage consumed worldwide. While we associate many things...

Life continues in Iran’s 12,000-year-old settlement “Meymand village”

8 February 2022

8 February 2022

At the south-eastern Iranian province of Kerman near Shahr-Babak city, there is a village dating back to the Stone Age....

An Interesting Ottoman Tradition Resembling Christmas tree: “NAHIL” OR WISHING TREE

28 December 2022

28 December 2022

Nahıl, a word of Arabic origin, means date palm. This word was later used by the people to mean the...

The Kyrgyz epic ‘Manas’ manuscripts were included in the UNESCO Memory of the World

10 June 2023

10 June 2023

Manuscripts of the Kyrgyz epic “Manas” by narrator Sagymbay Orozbakov have been inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World...

The World’s oldest and first swords ever discovered

11 March 2023

11 March 2023

The 5,000-year-old swords found 43 years ago during the excavations in the old mud-brick palace structure in Malatya Arslantepe Mound...

Foundations laid with human blood “Foundation sacrifices”

5 September 2021

5 September 2021

The custom of sacrificing a human being at the erection of a new house or fortress is very old. Foundation...

Portugal’s Enigmatic Roman Building “Tower of Centum Cellas”

4 February 2024

4 February 2024

The Tower of Centum Cellas (also known as the “Tower of St. Cornelius”), located in the Mount of Santo Antão...

Clarifying The Complexities Of Communication Across Millennia In Mesoamerica

20 February 2022

20 February 2022

The long-held consensus that the more populated and “civilized” a society, the more complex their communication may be more nuanced...