Rare Example of Etruscan Writing Found ↦

In stark contrast to the Roman and Greek cultures, there is another ancient Mediterranean culture about which we know comparatively little: the Etruscans. The Romans called them Tusci or sometimes Etrusci and it is from those Roman words that the region of Tuscany—which was the heartland of the Etruscans—derives its name.

One of the primary reasons that we know relatively little about the Etruscans is that very little of their language has survived. Most Etruscan writing appears to have been on perishable materials such as cloth books or wax tablets, which have not survived into the modern era. Complicating matters further is the fact that the Etruscan language, unlike its neighbors Latin and Greek, may not have been part of the Indo-European family of languages.

All of this makes a recent archaeological discovery in Italy all the more significant: a large stone, inscribed with Etruscan writing, has been discovered.

At a dig outside Florence, a group of researchers have unearthed a massive stone tablet, known as a stele, covered in Etruscan writing. The 500-pound stone is 4 feet high and was once part of a sacred temple display. But 2500 years ago it was torn down and used as a foundation stone in a much larger temple. Hidden away for thousands of years, the sandstone stab[sic] has been preserved remarkably well. Though it’s chipped, and possibly burned on one side, the stele contains 70 legible letters and punctuation marks. That makes it one of the longest examples of Etruscan writing known in the modern world.