savitaulut

Savitaulut, or clay tablets, are small rectangular pieces of fired or sun-dried clay bearing inscriptions. They were used in ancient Mesopotamia and neighboring regions as a durable writing medium for administrative records, legal contracts, literature, and educational texts. Most tablets were inscribed while the clay was still soft, using a reed stylus to press signs into the surface, and then dried or baked to preserve the writing.

Materials and production: Tablets were typically formed from river-clay, dried to a flat shape, and inscribed with a stylus. After writing, they could be sun-dried or fired in kilns. The resulting hard surface allowed for long-term preservation in archives and libraries. Tablets vary in size, from small tags to larger tablets several tens of centimeters long.

Writing and languages: The dominant script on savitaulut is cuneiform, first developed in Sumer in southern Mesopotamia and later adapted by Akkadian, Hittite, and other cultures. Texts cover accounts, inventories, legal codes, myths, prayers, and correspondence, written in languages such as Sumerian and Akkadian. The tablets provide one of the primary sources for deciphering these languages.

Historical significance: Clay tablets offer crucial evidence for early writing, administration, and daily life in the ancient Near East. They date from the late 4th millennium BCE through the first centuries CE in some regions, with many thousands recovered from temple and palace archives. The decipherment of cuneiform in the 19th century unlocked extensive archives housed in museums and libraries worldwide.

Preservation and collections: Savitaulut are found across the Near East and Mediterranean regions in archaeological sites and modern museums. They survive because of their firing or drying, and many have been cataloged, studied, and translated, yielding insights into economics, law, literature, and education in ancient societies.