# Mystery stone tablet found **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 7, 2024, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-stone-tablet-found/1011321 "2024-12-07T21:08:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2024, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-stone-tablet-found/1011321/1 "2024-12-07T21:08:44Z")
The tablet has 60 characters inscribed in it, that correspond to no known language. > The basalt slab was discovered by accident in 2021 by a group of local fishermen who spotted it in the silt of Bashplemi Lake, Georgia. > > Carved into the surface are 60 characters arranged in seven rows - 39 of which are unique. > > Archaeologists say that these strange symbols aren’t found in any language known to science. I know the meaning. It either means : _Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn._ or **PAGING MR. LOVECRAFT! You’re wanted on the telephone. PAGING MR LOVECRAFT!** [LINK](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14156501/mysterious-stone-tablet-Georgia-language.html) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2024, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-stone-tablet-found/1011321/2 "2024-12-07T21:33:11Z")
There’s a bit more on it here: [https://archaeologymag.com/2024/12/tablet-with-unknown-language-unearthed-in-georgia/](https://archaeologymag.com/2024/12/tablet-with-unknown-language-unearthed-in-georgia/) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2024, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-stone-tablet-found/1011321/3 "2024-12-07T21:45:52Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > The basalt slab was discovered by accident in 2021 by a group of local fishermen who spotted it in the silt of Bashplemi Lake, Georgia. Oh- _that_ Georgia. For a minute I was thinking- hoax, had to be. 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2024, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-stone-tablet-found/1011321/4 "2024-12-07T23:53:36Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Oh- _that_ Georgia. I thought the state, too. I’ve got Georgias on my mind. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2024, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-stone-tablet-found/1011321/5 "2024-12-08T01:27:48Z")
39 distinct glyphs, especially in such a short text, seems like too many for an alphabet. Seems more likely to be a syllabary, or maybe a system with logographic features. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2024, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-stone-tablet-found/1011321/6 "2024-12-08T01:40:25Z")
Is the slab confirmed to be old? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2024, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-stone-tablet-found/1011321/7 "2024-12-08T15:22:35Z")
While the articles suggest that it was found near datable objects, the fact that it was found and pulled out of a lake by fishermen suggests that no such context can be assumed. The tablet does seem to have have a tally marking system as part of it similar to Babylonian. So I would suspect it’s like the Linear B inventory tablets. Symbols for items plus tally marks and a few “words” mixed in. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2024, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-stone-tablet-found/1011321/8 "2024-12-08T17:44:32Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > 39 distinct glyphs, especially in such a short text, seems like too many for an alphabet. It would be funny if it turned out to be the ancient equivalent of “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogs,” although I guess nobody would bother carving that on a stone tablet… ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2024, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-stone-tablet-found/1011321/9 "2024-12-08T17:50:08Z")
Ask Hunter Biden ---- Too Soon? ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2024, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-stone-tablet-found/1011321/10 "2024-12-08T18:16:02Z")
This stone comes from somewhere near Colchis, which is where Jason found the Golden Fleece (and Medea). This stone looks a bit suspect - the letters are drilled, using a bit. But they had that sort of technology in the Iron Age and earlier, so it may well be authentic. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2024, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-stone-tablet-found/1011321/11 "2024-12-08T19:05:20Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > This stone looks a bit suspect - the letters are drilled, using a bit. But they had that sort of technology in the Iron Age and earlier, so it may well be authentic. I’m quite confident that today’s experts can differentiate between ancient handiwork and modern machine-drilled work. ETA. I just skimmed the article in the OP, and in good old Daily Fail tradition, it contains this gem: > [@](#): > > It has not been possible to chemically date the tablet but, based on the area it was found, the carvings could be from the late Bronze or Early Iron Age around 14,000 [sic] years ago. And another, rather silly observation I made: Bashplemi Lake sounds conspicuously like Blasphemy Lake. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2024, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-stone-tablet-found/1011321/12 "2024-12-08T19:17:29Z")
One of the links suggested late Bronze or early Iron age, so very roughly 1500-1000 BCE. Not super ancient, although several centuries before the Greek Classical age. Near the same period as Linear B, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-stone-tablet-found/1011321/13 "2024-12-12T20:00:15Z")
For what it’s worth, the script created for the game Tunic uses 42 distinct glyphs, and it is designed as an alphabet to phonetically represent English. That’s not to say that the glyphs on the tablet necessarily are alphabetic, only that it’s more plausible than it might immediately seem to those of us most accustomed to the multi-value representation of English phonetics in the Latin alphabet. Some of the glyphs do strike me as possible tally marks or actual numerals, but without some further reference point, I doubt that we will ever know for certain. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-stone-tablet-found/1011321/14 "2024-12-12T20:10:33Z")
It looks upside down in the images in the linked article. The large spiral glyph is part of a title or emblem, surely. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-stone-tablet-found/1011321/15 "2024-12-12T20:14:45Z")
Unless they find more tablets with the same script, it’s going to end up being another Phaistos Disk. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-stone-tablet-found/1011321/16 "2024-12-12T20:17:08Z")
[spooky conspiracy voice] The spiral glyph represents the Phaistos Disc! ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-stone-tablet-found/1011321/17 "2024-12-12T23:15:44Z")
_WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals which are known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm._ ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-stone-tablet-found/1011321/18 "2024-12-13T16:22:09Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Is the slab confirmed to be old? Most stones are pretty old… Oh, you mean, when was it inscribed… Good user-name / post combo, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-stone-tablet-found/1011321/19 "2024-12-13T17:23:55Z")
Something just doesn’t look right to me. It’s got rough edges, but all the letters fit. It looks like someone illiterate trying to imitate writing. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-stone-tablet-found/1011321/20 "2024-12-13T17:47:17Z")
I had a history book in high school that included a photo of some ancient Hebrew text. The photo was upside down. And that’s a known language. Yeah, i agree, that big spiral looks more important. It might be the name of a god ending the text ("in the name of Spiral, the Almighty… ") but I’d also have guessed it belongs on the top. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-stone-tablet-found/1011321.md?page=2)