This is an actual baked clay artifact. It is Babylonian (about 1000 BCE) and written in cuneiform with a small stylus that is made from a dried reed and triangular in cross section and about the size of an orange stick used to clean fingernails. It is a contract of sale or business letter to a buyer of fine oils from the manufacturer. Its clay “envelope” was broken open to remove the letter, and is lost. The tablet is approximately 5 x 10 x 2 centimeters
At the time this was being created Archaic Native American Indians were primarily doing geometric pictographs and petroglyphs with no known actual written language.
The artifact was “rescued” from an abandonned museum collection. It is used in our work as a comparison to how different cultures communicated and documented their activities at similar times around the world.
Information about volunteer opportunities in the Coconino Forest including the creation of the 3D models and other projects can be found at http://www.friendsoftheforestsedona.org/
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