The Bashplemi Lake Tablet was found near Lake Bashplemi in the
Dmanisi
Dmanisi ( ka, დმანისი, tr, , ) is a town and archaeological site in the Kvemo Kartli region of Georgia (country), Georgia approximately 93 km southwest of the nation’s capital Tbilisi in the river valley of Mashavera.
Abandoned i ...
region of
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
. Made of
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
and thought to date to around the first millennium BCE, it is inscribed with a previously unknown writing system, at least 60 characters in length.
Discovery
The tablet was found in 2021
by a group of local fishermen.
The tablet's archaeological context suggests it dates back to the
Late Bronze Age
The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
or Early Iron Age.
Description
The tablet measures and seems to be made from locally sourced vesicular basalt.
The carving was made with a conical drill and then smoothed.
Symbols
There are 39 unique characters in seven horizontal lines. They show some similarities with other early scripts, particularly the
proto-Kartvelian script, but also the
Colchian runes, the
Grakliani Hill script and
Asomtavruli
The Georgian scripts are the three writing systems used to write the Georgian language: Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri and Mkhedruli. Although the systems differ in appearance, their letters share the same names and alphabetical order and are written ...
.
References
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1st-millennium BC inscriptions
2021 archaeological discoveries
Archaeological artifacts
Inscriptions in undeciphered writing systems
Inscriptions in unknown languages
Bronze Age in Georgia
Prehistoric sites in Georgia (country)