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At least for cuneiform tablets, somewhere I read most of them are utterly boring, mostly inventory and transactions. Maybe you could pass years sifting through
by ASalazarMX 8y ago
At least for cuneiform tablets, somewhere I read most of them are utterly boring, mostly inventory and transactions. Maybe you could pass years sifting through it to finally find something valuable.
- wahern 8y agoIn the aggregate that data might be incredibly valuable, and valuable in a way that might not be obvious to the gatekeepers of these materials. You never know what people can do with more data until you put it out there. But neither do the people who might do something with it, which I guess is why there's little funding for such endeavors. You need somebody with the money and conviction to make the gamble.
- dan-robertson 8y agoThis is very true. A lot about civilisation can be learned from tax records but just because there are lots of tax records it does not mean they are particularly easy to read or to recognise, even for an expert.
- samstave 8y ago"Dammit Zuel, this is the last time I'll give you grain on credit. Bring the camels next week or else!" scribles another tally onto the tablets.
- sameyolo 8y agoGive me a civilizations inventory and transaction log and I'll show you their economy, and society.
- peterburkimsher 8y agoHere's the cuneiform scans if you're interested: https://cdli.ucla.edu/?q=news/machine-assisted-translation-cuneiform-texts https://cdli.ucla.edu/?q=news/machine-assisted-translation-c...
- singularity2001 8y agoThat's only the announcement that they will be scanned?