11 April 2026 The Future is the Product of the Past

The world’s earliest drawing of a ghost discovered in the British Museum vault

The world’s earliest drawing of a ghost has been unearthed in the gloomy vaults of the British Museum.

The British Museum has unearthed the world’s earliest drawing of a ghost, according to The Guardian on Saturday. The drawing has been identified on an ancient Babylonian clay tablet that was constructed approximately 3,500 years ago.

The drawing presents a male ghost with his hands tied by a rope and is being led by a woman pulling the rope. A lonely bearded spirit being led into the afterlife and eternal bliss by a lover.

According to the report, half of the tablet is missing, and the remaining half is small enough to fit in a human palm. On the other side of the tablet, contains instructions of what to do should a ghost continue to pursue any individual, which requires making figurines of a man and woman.

A lonely spirit being led to eternal bliss by a lover on a Babylonian clay tablet. White line tracing © James Fraser and Chris Cobb for The First Ghosts, by Irving Finkel. Photograph: The British Museum
A lonely spirit being led to eternal bliss by a lover on a Babylonian clay tablet. White line tracing © James Fraser and Chris Cobb for The First Ghosts, by Irving Finkel. Photograph: The British Museum

It is part of an exorcist’s guide to getting rid of unwanted ghosts by addressing the particular malaise that brought them back to the world of the living — in this case, a ghost in urgent need of a companion. He is seen strolling with his arms outstretched, his wrists bound by a rope carried by a female, while an accompanying text describes a ceremony that will happily send them to the underworld.



📣 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!!



Dr. Irving Finkel, the curator of the Middle East section at the British Museum, noticed that the tablet had been incorrectly deciphered before. The drawing had been missed as the ghost only comes to life when viewed from above and under a light.

Irving Finkel, a world authority on cuneiform script, tells the story of his ghostly discovery in The First Ghosts. Photograph: Dave Cherry
Irving Finkel, a world authority on the cuneiform script, tells the story of his ghostly discovery in The First Ghosts. Photograph: Dave Cherry

Dr. Irving Finkel said the “absolutely spectacular object from antiquity” had been overlooked until now.

Finkel believes the tablet was part of a library of magic in the house of an exorcist or in a temple.

Just in time for Halloween, the ghost has come. Finkel’s next book, The First Ghosts: Most Ancient of Legacies, will be released by Hodder & Stoughton on November 11th.

Related Articles

7500-year-old cursed city of Iran

17 March 2023

17 March 2023

Sialk Hills, located in the southwestern part of Kashan city in Iran, was known among the locals as a ‘cursed...

Chariots in Neo-Assyrian Army

20 August 2021

20 August 2021

The first data related to the use of vehicles by humans appeared on a clay tablet found in stage IVa...

World’s Oldest Customer Complaint “at 3800 Years Old”

4 February 2021

4 February 2021

When we are not satisfied with the product we receive, what almost all of us do is complain about the...

The Historical Building Next To The Million Stone Will Sell

6 February 2021

6 February 2021

Everyone has heard of the Million Stone, which was built during the Byzantine Empire and accepted as the zero points...

Onna-Bugeisha, Female Samurais of Japan

16 May 2021

16 May 2021

Long before the Western World began to consider Samurai warriors male by nature, there were female samurai. These female samurai...

China’s 4300-Year-Old Ancient Pyramids

26 March 2021

26 March 2021

Shaanxi Province in Northwest China is famous for its rich archaeological treasures. Among the many sites discovered in Shaanxi, the...

KIŠIB: A Digital Archive From 80,000 Mesopotamian Seals is Being Created

19 December 2024

19 December 2024

Over the next 16 years, a research team from the Institute for Near Eastern Archaeology at the Free University of...

Excavations at a 4th millennium BC settlement uncover evidence for the emergence and rejection of the earliest state institutions in Iraq

6 December 2024

6 December 2024

New excavations of the 4th-millennium B.C settlement at the archaeological site of Shakhi Kora, located in the Iraqi Kurdistan region...

‘Dinosaur dance floor’ dating back 80 million years found in China

20 April 2021

20 April 2021

In China, researchers have found many dinosaur footprints in an area of 1,600 square meters described in the literature as...

Mysterious Rods Found in 5,500-year-old Tomb identified to Be Earliest Drinking Straws

19 January 2022

19 January 2022

Russian archaeologists argue that the rods unearthed in an early bronze age tomb in the Caucasus are the oldest known...

A new magnetic survey of the ancient Assyrian capital of Khorsabad has revealed a 127-room villa twice the size of the U.S. White House

26 December 2024

26 December 2024

Archaeologists in northern Iraq have conducted an extensive magnetic survey using an exhaustive magnetic survey at Khorsabad, once the ancient...

Oldest known alphabet unearthed in ancient Syrian city -500 years older than thought

22 November 2024

22 November 2024

Johns Hopkins University researchers uncovered evidence of the oldest alphabetic writing in human history. The writing was etched onto finger-length...

Mustatil Structures in Arabia May Be 7,000-Year-Old Stone Remnants of Cattle Cult

1 May 2021

1 May 2021

Archaeologists examining the mustatil stone remains in the northwest of Arabia think that these stone remains may have been used...

The Pilgrimage Center of the Late Chalcolithic Age, “Temple of the Eye”

15 February 2021

15 February 2021

“Temple of the Eye”, one of the pilgrimage centers of humanity in the chalcolithic age, is an important faith epicenter...

Africa May not be Where the First Pre-Human First Appeared

22 March 2021

22 March 2021

According to one opinion: About 2 million years ago, our first ancestors moved north from their hometown and left Africa....