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Reading between the lines - Analysis of Cuneiform Tablets

By, D. Thickett

The text of cuneiform tablets provides an unparalleled resource for scholars of ancient Mesopotamian civilisation. The British Museum holds a collection of in excess of 120,000 tablets, probably the largest in the world. The sun baked clay from which most of the tablets were fabricated has a low durability. The activity of high soluble salt concentrations in the tablets has further weakened them. In order to withstand the handling by scholars, necessary to decipher the script, a conservation treatment based on firing was developed empirically in the 1950s. A major project is underway to reassess and optimise this firing treatment.

Analysis of tablets from several different provenances has been carried out to guide this work. There was little variation in the matrix chemistry between tablets from different sites. Differences in bulk chemistry appeared to be related to differing amounts of calcite in the tablets. The tablets were fabricated from a silt, best described as a palygorskite and contain very little actual clay, less than 2%. The clay present was identified as a magnesian chlorite.