# Deciphering Secrets of Ancient Civilizations, Noah's Ark, and Flood Myths | Lex Fridman Podcast #487 Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bBRVNkAfkQ Recap page: https://rapidrecap.app/video/_bBRVNkAfkQ Generated: 2025-12-12T20:32:02.711+00:00 --- ## Quick Overview Irving Finkel asserts that the development of cuneiform writing, which originated around 3500 BC in Mesopotamia, represents one of humanity's greatest intellectual achievements, evolving from simple pictographs to a complex syllabic system that lasted over three millennia, although he controversially believes earlier writing existed, possibly as early as 9000 BC at Göbekli Tepe. **Key Points:** - The oldest evidence of writing, characterized by simple pictographic messages where signs represented objects, dates to around 3500 BC among people between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. - The crucial step in writing development was realizing that pictures could represent sounds (phonetics), liberating the system from pictography to record actual language, grammar, and literature. - Cuneiform, meaning wedge-shaped, was a complex, flexible writing system that lasted over three millennia, requiring scribes to learn both Sumerian (an isolate language) and Akkadian/Babylonian (a Semitic tongue). - Finkel controversially suggests that writing likely existed long before 3500 BC, citing a stamp seal with hieroglyphic signs found at Göbekli Tepe, dated around 9000 BC, implying earlier trade communication necessitated writing. - The decipherment of cuneiform was unlocked by the Behistun Inscription, a tri-lingual text featuring Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian, allowing scholars to use the known Old Persian to crack the Semitic Babylonian script. - Finkel argues that modern translations often incorrectly use 'will die' or 'will get better' in omen and medical texts, whereas the subtle grammatical structure implies modal verbs like 'could die' or 'should get better,' reflecting philosophical nuance. - The scribal class jealously guarded literacy, reserving it for elite professions like law, astronomy, and administration, which heavily contributed to the system's longevity due to inertia and institutional control. **Context:** The conversation is an interview on the Lex Fridman Podcast between Lex and Irving Finkel, a distinguished scholar of ancient languages and curator at the British Museum for over 45 years, specializing in cuneiform, Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian culture. The discussion centers on the origins, evolution, and decipherment of cuneiform script, which encapsulates vast amounts of knowledge from ancient Mesopotamia, contrasting the known archaeological record with Finkel's controversial hypotheses about older writing systems. ## Detailed Analysis Irving Finkel explains that writing began tentatively around 3500 BC in Mesopotamia, starting as pictographic signs representing objects, but its true breakthrough occurred when signs began representing sounds, allowing for the recording of complex language structure. This system, cuneiform, was highly successful, lasting nearly four millennia because the scribal elite maintained control, viewing widespread literacy as anathema, thereby creating strong institutional inertia. The decipherment process relied heavily on the discovery of the Behistun Inscription, a tri-lingual text that provided the key to unlocking the Semitic Akkadian/Babylonian language, which was then cross-referenced with known Semitic dictionaries, while Sumerian remained a linguistic isolate. Finkel highlights a major flaw in modern Assyriology: the failure to properly interpret modal verbs in texts like omens, where literal translations suggest deterministic prophecies (e.g., 'the queen will die'), but context demands a nuanced interpretation suggesting possibility or obligation (e.g., 'the queen could die'), indicating that the language itself encoded deep philosophical subtlety about uncertainty. Furthermore, Finkel posits that the physical evidence we possess—clay tablets—is a vastly incomplete 'raindrop' compared to the 'waterfall' of lost writing on perishable materials, suggesting that monumental architecture at sites like Göbekli Tepe (9000 BC) could only have been realized with an earlier, undocumented writing system used for planning and ratification. ### Origins of Writing - First attempts at writing emerged around 3500 BC in the Middle East using clay for pictographic messages - The crucial development was representing sounds, enabling the recording of grammar and language complexity - This system evolved into the beautiful, flexible cuneiform script that lasted over 3,000 years. ### Cuneiform Structure and Language - Cuneiform is fundamentally syllabic, requiring scribes to learn multiple values for single signs derived from Sumerian words - Students must cope with two primary languages: Sumerian (a language isolate) and Babylonian (a Semitic tongue related to Hebrew and Arabic). ### Decipherment Key - The breakthrough came via the Behistun Inscription, a tri-lingual text featuring Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian - Henry Rawlinson is credited, but Finkel argues clergyman Edward Hinks deserves more credit for cracking the multivalent nature of the signs. ### The Limitations of Evidence - Finkel believes the surviving clay tablets are only a fraction of total writing, arguing that sites like Göbekli Tepe (9000 BC) required earlier writing on perishable materials for organization - He infers the existence of earlier writing from a stamp seal found at Göbekli Tepe. ### Translation Nuance and Philosophy - Translation requires understanding context, as the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary demonstrates the range of meanings for single words - A major issue is rendering modal verbs; Finkel argues that omen texts imply possibility ('could die') rather than certainty ('will die'), suggesting Babylonian grammar inherently contained philosophical uncertainty. ### Longevity of Cuneiform - The system persisted due to inertia and the immense power held by the literate scribal class, who controlled access to knowledge and resisted widespread literacy.