A mysterious ancient writing system called Linear Elamite, used between about 2300 BC and 1800 BC. in what is now southern Iran, could finally be deciphered, although some experts are skeptical of the findings. What’s more, it’s unclear whether all the artifacts used to decipher the writings were obtained legally. Only about 40 known examples of Linear Elamite survive today, making the script challenging to decode, but researchers say they have largely succeeded, they wrote in an article published in July in the journal Zeitschrift für Assyriology und Vorderasiatische Archäologie (German for “Journal of Assyriology and Archeology of the Near East”). The key to deciphering them was the analysis of the eight inscriptions on the silver beakers.
Other research teams have previously decoded various Linear Elamite inscriptions, and the authors of the new study build on this previous work by comparing the writing system in eight Linear Elamite inscriptions with cuneiform (the already deciphered script used in what is now the Middle East) texts. which date to about the same time period and probably contain the names of the same rulers and their titles and use some of the same phrases to describe the rulers.
The team determined what many of the additional characters mean, the team wrote. However, approximately 3.7% of Linear Elamite characters remain indecipherable. There are more than 300 linear Elamite signs representing different sounds, such as a crescent-shaped sign that sounds like “pa,” the team wrote in the paper. The team translated one short text in the article that says (translated): “Puzur-Sušinak, king of Awan, Insušinak [the deity] loves him.” The text adds that anyone who rebels from Puzur-Sushinak should “be destroyed”. The team wrote that more translations of the complete texts will be published in the future.
The team’s corresponding author, François Desset, an archaeologist at the University of Tehran and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), declined to comment on the team’s work. Live Science also contacted several other sources not associated with the research to get their thoughts on the article. Most either declined comment or did not respond in time for publication. However, Jacob Dahl, a professor of Assyriology at Oxford University, said he was unsure whether the team had successfully deciphered it.
Dahl is working on another scenario called “proto-Elamite” and disagreed with the team’s statement in the paper that proto-Elamite and Linear Elamite are closely related. Additionally, he is concerned that the team used inscriptions found at the Konar Sandal Bronze Age archaeological site (near Jiroft, a city in Iran) in their analysis; these inscriptions have suspicious features that may indicate forgery, Dahl said. While the Konar Sandal artifacts are not one of the eight new inscriptions that were central to the decipherment, the fact that they were used at all raises questions about the decipherment, Dahl noted.
Where did the inscriptions come from?
Experts are not exactly sure where the eight linear Elamite inscriptions originated. Seven are in the collection of a collector named Houshang Mahboubian, while another is in the collection of Martin Schøyen, a Norwegian dealer and collector. The Schøyen Collection has staff who help oversee the collection and regularly collaborate with scientists.
The inscription owned by Schøyen and hundreds of other artifacts in Schøyen’s collection were seized by Norwegian police on 24 August 2021. A report released by the Oslo Museum of Cultural History in March stated that Schøyen “did not provide documentation of legal removal from Iran, and the balance of evidence otherwise suggests modern looting, smuggling and illegal trading,” and recommended that authorities in Iran be consulted about what to do with the Linear Elamite artifact.
In July, the Schøyen Collection issued a statement criticizing the report, claiming that at least one of the study’s authors was strongly biased against Schøyen, calling the idea that an artifact bearing a Linear Elamite inscription had recently been smuggled “completely unsubstantiated”. The collection believes that the Linear Elamite inscription comes from the ancient city of Susa in Iran.
Cato Schiøtz, a lawyer at the Oslo-based Glittertind law firm representing Schøyen, said in a statement to Live Science that “in the 40-plus years I’ve practiced as a lawyer, I’ve read a huge amount of reports. [a message] as embarrassingly weak as this.” A spokesperson for the collection told Live Science that the Linear Elamite artifact is currently impounded, but “it was wrongfully impounded and is expected to be returned.”
Meanwhile, the provenance of the artifacts from the Mahboubian collection is not exactly clear, the team wrote in a new paper. In a 2018 paper published in Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies, Desset said in the paper that Mahboubian told him that the artifacts were discovered during excavations carried out by his father Benjamin Abol Ghassem Mahboubian in 1922 and 1924 in the cities of Kam -Firouz and Beyza in Iran. Mahboubian provided the coordinates, which were published in the newspaper.
Live Science examined the coordinates on Google Earth and found that today the city of Kam-Firouz partially covers one location, while the city of Beyza completely covers the other. In a 2018 paper, Desset wrote that Mahboubian told him the artifacts were exported to Europe before 1970.
Metallurgical and chemical analysis of artifacts from Mahboubian’s collection found no evidence of forgery, a separate study found in 2018 Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies. The patina of artifacts (the film that forms on an artifact when it is exposed to certain environments or substances for a long time) indicates that the objects were buried in soil, indicating that they are authentic. In addition, the manufacturing process of the artifacts and the ratio of silver to other metals indicate authenticity. The findings point to “ancient artifacts and not sophisticated modern forgeries,” the technical team wrote in the paper.
Members of the technical team either declined to comment or did not respond at the time of publication. In the 1980s, Mahboubian and part of his collection were part of a series of trials that attracted media attention. In 1987 he was convicted of hiring thieves to steal part of his collection in order to collect insurance money. That conviction was overturned in 1989 and new trials were ordered in two cases. There was no retrial and the charges were dropped. In a statement on his website, Mahboubian said the allegations against him were motivated by his Iranian heritage.
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