After 90 years, U. of C. completes dictionary documenting humanity’s earliest days

Chloe · #1 (**permalink**) 06-07-2011, 10:42 PM

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Love notes and divorce papers. Accounting ledgers and legal briefs. Omens, letters between kings, thoughts on the benefits of flaxseed and the fortune-telling properties of sheep livers.

All were carved in stone or written in cuneiform on clay tablets in ancient Mesopotamia — the cradle of human civilization — between 2500 BC and AD 100. Scholars at the University of Chicago have worked for nearly a century on a comprehensive guide for those reading the ancient language in which some of the earliest days of human history were written.

Ninety years in the making, the 21-volume, 28,000-word Chicago Assyrian Dictionary is complete. Started in 1921, the dictionary was created over the years by about 85 employees writing on millions of index cards in up to five large offices at the school’s Oriental Institute at University Avenue and 58th Street.

After 90 years, U. of C. completes dictionary documenting humanity?s earliest days - Chicago Sun-Times

saltwn · #2 (**permalink**) 06-07-2011, 11:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chloe

After 90 years, U. of C. completes dictionary documenting humanity?s earliest days - Chicago Sun-Times

This will be like gold mining for scholars of related subjects. I wonder what they will discover as they pour through this work.

Chloe · #3 (**permalink**) 06-08-2011, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saltwn

This will be like gold mining for scholars of related subjects. I wonder what they will discover as they pour through this work.

Yeah, it's pretty neat. I wonder the same thing

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