We Deciphered Ancient Text From 5000 Years Ago

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Irving Finkel lectures on Cuneiform, an ancient form of writing, dating all the way back to 5000 years ago. More than five thousand years ago, a revolutionary script emerged in the fertile lands of Mesopotamia that would transform how people counted, governed, worshipped and told stories. This was cuneiform, the world’s earliest known writing system. In this episode of The Ancients, Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr Irving Finkel to uncover how cuneiform actually worked and how you would write it yourself. From humble beginnings as simple pictograms tracking beer and grain, to the wedge-shaped signs that recorded myths, laws and epic tales long before the Bible, this episode explores how cuneiform spread across Sumer, Babylon, Assyria and Persia — and why these clay tablets remain one of archaeology’s richest windows into the ancient world. Check out the Ancients YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/bSnPrL1sAdg 00:00 Introduction 00:56 Dr Irving Finkel returns to the studio 01:19 Is cuneiform the oldest writing system in the world? 02:53 Which civilisations and languages used cuneiform? 07:07 Survival on clay tablets and monumental stone inscriptions 08:48 The Behistun Inscription: The Rosetta Stone of cuneiform 12:53 Why did ancient Mesopotamians write on clay? 15:54 What is proto-cuneiform, and why did writing emerge? 23:38 The evolution from pictographs to cuneiform wedges 32:23 How ancient bookkeeping shaped our modern time system 37:12 Dr Irving Finkel demonstrates h

Published 2026-06-01 · Watch on YouTube ↗
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