Archaeology breakthrough as 3,500-year-old find is also used by Brits today

An excavation team in Turkey has made a groundbreaking archaeological discovery, unearthing a 3,500-year-old clay tablet that remarkably resembles a modern-day shopping list for furniture.

This fascinating find was uncovered at Tell Atchana, an archaeological site near present-day Antakya in southern Turkey, and has shed new light on the daily life and economic practices of an ancient civilisation. 

Tell Atchana, historically known as Alalakh, was once the capital city of the Kingdom of Mukish in the second millennium BC. 

This settlement, once the largest in the region, was occupied by the Amorites, a Semitic-speaking people from western Mesopotamia. The area is now characterised by large mounds.

The discovery of the tablet occurred during restoration work following an earthquake in the Old City of Alalakh, located in Hatay’s Reyhanlı district at the Aççana Mound.

The clay tablet is relatively small, measuring just 1.6 by 0.6 inches (4 by 1.6 centimetres) and weighing 0.06 pounds (28 grams), and experts have dated it back to the 15th century BC.

Despite its size, the newfound tablet offers lines of information, detailing a large purchase of wooden tables, chairs and stools, akin to a modern inventory list. 

Experts have said that this unassuming shopping list could “reshape” our understanding of trade, commerce, and even the structure of society in the 15th century B.C.

The tablet’s text is inscribed in Akkadian cuneiform, a logo-syllabic writing system commonly used throughout the ancient Middle East. 

Cuneiform is the oldest form of writing in the world, utilising between 600 and 1,000 characters impressed on clay to represent words and syllables.

Akkadian, an extinct Semitic language, was widely spoken in the ancient Near East from the 3rd millennium BC until it was gradually replaced by Aramaic around the 8th century BC.

While it’s unclear who wrote the tablet and who made the transaction, Mehmet Ersoy, Turkey’s minister of culture and tourism, said in a translated statement: “this tablet is useful for understanding the economic structure and state system of the Late Bronze Age”.

To further analyse the tablet, the Turkish excavation team is working with Johns Hopkins University Assyriologist Jacob Lauinger and his doctoral student Zeynep Türker to uncover more about the tablet’s origins as well as the broader implications for our understanding of the Late Bronze Age economy. 

“We believe it will offer a new perspective,” Ersoy said.