It is unclear when rock doves were domesticated, but they first appear in written history on Mesopotamian
cuneiform tablets from over 5,000 years ago.
A British scholar has found that a 4,000 - year - old
cuneiform tablet from what is now Iraq contains a story similar to the biblical account of Noah's Ark..
Not exact matches
Since then, we have found 216
tablets inscribed with a
cuneiform script familiar
from southern Mesopotamia.
Gangs of looters, numbering sometimes in the hundreds, have pilfered cylinder seals, sculptures, urns, bronze tools, clay
tablets with
cuneiform writing, and even reliefs carved into walls — all to supply an illegal international trade in antiquities that stretches
from Taiwan to New York.
And examine real treasures lent by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology —
cuneiform tablets, Nasca vases
from Peru, a golden vessel
from Mesopotamia, and more.
9 «Zero» was first seen in
cuneiform tablets written around 300 B.C. by Babylonians who used it as a placeholder (to distinguish 36
from 306 or 360, for example).
This Science video and articles
from the NY Times and Washington Post show the beautiful
tablets with the
cuneiform writing.
Other artifacts include Sumerian
cuneiform clay
tablets (some of the world's oldest writing), Egyptian mummies, a crystal ball owned by China's Dowager Empress, monumental stone sculptures
from the ancient Maya and 4,500 - year - old jewelry
from the Royal Cemetery at Ur.
Many of the art and artifacts on display come
from early expeditions: Sumerian
cuneiform clay
tablets (with some of the world's oldest writing), architectural elements
from the 3,200 - year - old palace of the Pharaoh Merenptah, towering ancient Maya stone monuments, evocative masks
from West Africa, Buddhist sculptures
from China and Native American regalia.
Indeed, Baldock's research process during his residency has included studying the British Museum's collection of Mesopotamian clay
tablets, which trace the evolution
from pictograms into
cuneiform script's semi-abstract marks, and the earliest of which date back 5000 years.