Archaeologists unearth a 3,500-year-old shopping list

[Judi Lynn]

Jake Brigstock
Sep 07, 2024

The 3,500-year-old shopping list found on a cuneiform tablet in TurkeyRepublic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism


Shopping lists are essential for making sure nothing is missed out during a shopping trip so people don't end up getting in the front door and annoyingly realising they've forgotten something.

And it seems they have been around for thousands and thousands of years as a group of archaeologists excavating the Accana Mound, also known as Eski Alalah, in Turkey have discovered a cuneiform tablet detailing a shopping list of purchases from almost 3,500-years-ago, reports Heritage Daily.

Cuneiform is one of the oldest forms of writing; it means 'wedge-shaped' and is a logo-syllabic writing system.

Mehmet Ersoy, the Minister of Culture and Tourism in Turkey, said in a press statement archaeologists have unearthed a cuneiform tablet during restoration works in the old city of Alalah following an earthquake.

It was written in Akkadian, an extinct East Semitic language, and the tablet itself dates from the 15th century BC.

More:
https://www.indy100.com/science-tech/3500-year-old-shopping-list-turkey

[True Dough]

1. Darn it, Judi Lynn

I forgot to get the milk again!

[magicarpet]

2. Why does the top of the extensive shopping list

... say...

@ WalMart ?

[Warpy]

3. They needed to tell us what was on the list

which would tell us whether it was for a village, a large household, a palace, whatever. You'd think that would be important, but i suppose the story was about cracking Akkadian, once the dominant language of the region, rather than sharing the contents of an embarrassingly humble item. They were looking for poetry or to fill in the gaps in Gilgamesh's story, I suppose.