AN OVERVIEW

I followed the archaeological data of thousands of cuneiform tablets found in the areas running from ANATOLIA to EGYPT and MESOPOTAMIA.

Most of them were written like our modern day shopping lists. These tablets found, hold the major source of chronological data for the ANCIENT MIDDLE EAST.

A few of these tablets were relatively pristine, displaying quality objects. However, the vast majority of recovered tablets and inscriptions were damaged.

They have been broken with only portions found, some intentionally defaced and other damaged by weather or time. Many tablets were not baked and had to be carefully handled until they could be hardened by heating.

The site of any items recovery is an important piece of information for archaeologists, which can be compromised by two factors.

Firstly – In ANCIENT TIMES old materials were often reused as building material or fill, sometimes at a great distance from the original location.

Secondly, looting has disturbed archaeological sites, at least during the ROMAN TIMES, making the provenance of looted objects difficult or impossible to determine, any kind of “belonging” of the information.

What was found is that a lot of information was repeated, copied over many generations, resulting in multiple versions of a chronological source. Often it is difficult to determine the authentic version and locations of the tablets found.

There is also the difficulty of understanding the various underlaying languages such as AKKADIAN and SUMERIAN. It is thought that there could have been many versions or dialects of these languages, as they evolved over time. What was found duirng ancient times, and translations done, the information may be quite different than one found and translated around the years 1 900 CE/AD, and onward.

There can be honest disagreement over what a document says. Worse still the majority of archaeological finds have not yet been published, much less translated. Those held in private collections, might never be translated.

What we need to understand is that, during our ancient times, Government and Religious establishments were one, with natural bias in favour of whichever king or god was in charge. A king might even take credit for a battle or construction project of an earlier ruler.

What we found is the ASSYRIANS in particular have a literary tradition of putting the best possible face on history. A fact the interpreter, and the archaeologist must constantly keep in mind.