In a breach of our principles, we are covering our first article from a ‘popular’ news source (The New York Times). We chose to do this as we believe that the article-at-hand is of tremendous importance; the tusk of one of our distant ancestors has been discovered! What makes this encounter so noteworthy is the extraordinary setting in which the tusk was found: “[T]he remains of a mammoth, or any ancient mammal for that matter, have never been found in waters so deep.” Read full article here
Research
Researcher uses AI to make texts that are thousands of years old readable
The Gilgamesh Epic, the oldest work of world literature, has been brought back to life by LMU researchers in the Electronic Babylonian Literature project. Using their new Fragmentarium tool, they have discovered hundreds of manuscripts, including the most recent tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic which dates from 130 BC – thousands of years after the earliest known version. This shows how highly valued the Epic was, even at a late period. With the public release of the Fragmentarium, anyone can now explore the thousands of cuneiform fragments and explore the ancient Babylonian literature. Read full article here
Merv
March 12, 2023
