Archaeologists have discovered a mysterious stone that contains traces of an ancient lost language.
The basalt slab was discovered by accident in 2021 by a group of local fishermen who saw it in the Bashplemi Lake, Georgia.
Pictured above are 60 letters arranged in seven rows – 39 of them unique.
Archaeologists say that these strange symbols are not found in any known language.
Although there are similarities with the writing since India, Egypt and Western Iberia, archaeologists say that the Bashplemi inscriptions do not use any written language.
It was not possible to identify the tablet as a chemical composition but, depending on the area where it was found, the drawings could be from the Late Bronze or Early Iron Age, about 14,000 years ago.
The researchers say there is no way to know what message the ancient writer was trying to convey but they believe it must be important.
If some of the repeated figures are numbers, the researchers suggest that these may be records of war spoils, important construction work, or offerings to a deity.
Archaeologists have found an ancient stone (painting) that contains a lost language that is completely unknown to science
The tablet was discovered by chance in 2021 when a group of fishermen found it buried in Lake Bashplemi, Georgia, during the rainy season.
The tablet’s 60 letters appear to have been produced in a remarkably ‘developed and refined’ manner in the period in which it was made.
An early draftsman would have drilled a series of points to define each mark before smoothing it out with a rotary tool.
The result is curves, lines, and dots unlike anything we’ve seen before.
The closest symbols to those found on the Bashplemi tablet are found in Proto-Kartvelian, the ancestor of modern Georgian spoken in the fourth century BC.
Likewise, there are similar patterns found in ancient seals that were used in pre-Christian Georgia throughout the Iron Age.
Archaeologists think that these simple bone stamps may have been used by officials as tax collectors to label wine and other goods.
In addition, in their paper published in the Journal of Ancient History and Archaeology, the researchers note similarities with very unusual documents.
They write: ‘In general, Bashplemi’s written words do not repeat any scriptures known to us; however, many of the symbols used in it are similar to inscriptions from the Middle East, as well as those from countries as far away as India, Egypt and West Iberia.’
The tablet contains 60 letters, 39 of which are unique, arranged in seven lines. He drew a hole in the rock (indicated by the small circles) before smoothing the shape with a rotary tool.
The tablet was buried in a cemetery in Bashplemi Lake, Georgia, where experts believe it dates back to the Early Bronze Age.
However, no ancient language can match any modern language, which makes its origins unclear.
The municipality of Mansi where the tablet was found, in the historic district of Dbanishkhevi, was home to a civilization that dates back to the Bronze Age.
Digs have uncovered flint and obsidian leather tools that indicate a long period of concentration.
In the area around Lake Bashplemi, a drone survey has revealed circular circles that could be burial mounds and geometric shapes that could be the ruins of buildings, defenses and places of worship.
Interestingly, the researchers say there may be a connection with the lost language mentioned in Greek mythology.
In the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, the famous captain Jason must go to the land of Colchis to find the golden fleece.
Although Colchis was often seen as a fictional economic world, it was actually a real region bordering the Black Sea in what is now Georgia.
According to ancient Greek sources, the people of Colchis had knowledge of a writing system called the ‘Golden Script’.
Very similar inscriptions are found on seals (pictured) used by pre-Christian Georgian officials around 400 BC. The authors say this could link the table to a lost language called Colchian runes
In 1115 AD, a Byzantine scholar named Eustathius of Thessalonica wrote: ‘The purpose of the Argonautic expedition was to learn the Golden Script.’
However, all traces of this ancient language, now known as Colchian runes, have been lost to time.
This is probably because the early people of Colchis used writing materials such as bone or wood that had long since decayed.
But the researchers suggest that the Bashplemi tablet may be somehow connected to the Colchian runes.
However, without further excavation in the area, there is no way to know for sure what the tablet says or who made it.
The researchers concluded: ‘Explaining the documents found in the history of Dbanishkhevi can be very interesting and important and this can change the ideas that are held in history, as well as the main aspects of the origin and development of literature in the Caucasus.
