French archaeologist François Desai successfully deciphered one of the ancient languages that have not yet been understood – Elan, which was used in present-day Iran about 4,000 years ago, according to a report by Eiffe Paris on December 27.
According to the French journal Science and the Future, Desai is currently working at the University of Tehran in Iran. He spent nearly 10 years deciphering the words found on ceramics and other items in 1901.
According to the report, Elam is an epitonic language used by Elamites, and it is as old as the Mesopotamia primitive cuneiform script and ancient Egyptian holy scripts.
The report also said that the language was first discovered in the ruins of the Iranian city of Sousa. In 1901, archaeologists found some words on the jar, but no one could understand their meaning at that time.
After unremitting efforts, Desai finally cracked the language.
The report pointed out that Desai recognized a series of recurring symbols and eventually identified them as proper nouns. Desai associated these symbols with the names of the two Elean monarchs and the local god Napirisha, and established a comparison table.
“By studying, I can conclude that this type of writing did not appear in Mesopotamia at first, but two words appeared in two different regions at the same time,” Desai said.
The report pointed out that so far, people think that this writing originated in today’s Iraq, but this discovery has given it a new destination – Iran.
“This is not the mother and child that people have been thinking of so far, but sister bodies,” Desai said.
Desai said that unlike Mesopotamian cuneiform scripts (symbols expressing speech) and ideographs (symbols expressing meaning), Elam is composed of symbols representing syllables, consonants and causes.
According to the report, the language of Elam has been used for about 1400 years, following the right-to-left, top-down writing rules.
The report also said that deciphering the language helps to gain a deeper understanding of the elements of this culture. Desai said that the name “Elan” was named by foreigners, and the local people called “Hatati”.
