Cascajal Block

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The 62 glyphs of the Olmec Cascajal Block Cascajal-text.svg
The 62 glyphs of the Olmec Cascajal Block

The Cascajal Block is a tablet-sized slab serpentinite dated to the early first millennium BCE, incised with previously unknown characters that have been claimed to represent the earliest writing system in the New World. Archaeologist Stephen D. Houston of Brown University said that this discovery helps to "link the Olmec civilization to literacy, document an unsuspected writing system, and reveal a new complexity to [the Olmec] civilization." [1]

Contents

Discovery

The Cascajal Block was discovered by road builders in the late 1990s in a pile of debris in the village of Lomas de Tacamichapan in the Veracruz lowlands in the ancient Olmec heartland on the southeastern coast of Mexico. The block was found amidst ceramic shards and clay figurines and from these the block is dated to the San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán phase, which ended c.900 BCE, preceding the oldest Zapotec writing dated to c.500 BCE. [2] [3] Archaeologists Carmen Rodriguez and Ponciano Ortiz of the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico examined and registered it with government historical authorities. It weighs about 11.5 kilograms (25 lb) and measures 36 by 21 by 13 centimetres (14.2 in × 8.3 in × 5.1 in). Details of the find were published by researchers in the 15 September 2006 issue of the journal Science . [4]

Analysis

The Olmec flourished on the Gulf Coast of Mexico c.1250–400 BCE. The evidence for the Cascajal writing system is based solely on the text on the Cascajal Block, but existence of a system of Olmec hieroglyphs has been postulated independently from the Cascajal Block on the basis of previous discoveries of glyphs individually or in small groups. Their relation with the Cascajal Block is unclear.

The block holds a total of 62 glyphs, some of which resemble plants such as maize and pineapple, or animals such as insects and fish. Many of the symbols are more abstract boxes or blobs. The symbols on the Cascajal block are unlike those of any other writing system in Mesoamerica, such as in Mayan languages or Isthmian, another extinct Mesoamerican script. The Cascajal block is also unusual because the symbols apparently run in horizontal rows and "there is no strong evidence of overall organization. The sequences appear to be conceived as independent units of information". [5] All other known Mesoamerican scripts typically use vertical rows.

Authors of the report

Interpretations

Skepticism of interpretation

Skepticism of authenticity

Some archaeologists are skeptical of the tablet:

Formal criticism

The most comprehensive criticism was published in the journal Science , the publisher of the original study, on 9 March 2007. In a letter, archaeologists Karen Bruhns and Nancy Kelker raise five points of concern: [17]

  1. The block was found in a pile of bulldozer debris and cannot be reliably dated.
  2. The block is unique. There is no other known example of Olmec drawing, much less writing, on a serpentine slab.
  3. All other Mesoamerican writing systems are written either vertically or linearly. The glyphs on the block are arranged in neither format but instead "randomly bunch".
  4. As pointed out by the original authors, some of the glyphs do appear on other Olmec artifacts, but have never been heretofore identified as writing, only as decorative motifs.
  5. "What we can only describe as the 'cootie' glyph (#1/23/50) fits no known category of Mesoamerican glyph and, together with the context of the discovery, strongly suggests a practical joke".

A rebuttal to the criticism by the authors of the original study was published directly following the letter:

  1. Other critical language finds, as well as the Rosetta Stone, were also found without provenance.
  2. Such inscriptions are faint and may as yet be unseen on previously discovered slabs.
  3. The signs are in a "purposeful" pattern.
  4. "All known hieroglyphic systems in the world relate to pre-existing iconography or codified symbolism", and therefore it is not surprising that the Cascajal glyphs appear in other contexts as motifs.
  5. The 'cootie' glyph can be found in "three-dimensional" form on San Lorenzo Monument 43.

Archaeometric analyses

A 2019 study by Joshua D. Englehardt et al. made an effort to establish the origin of the block via archaeometric techniques. Their findings supported the authenticity of the block as an Olmec-age artifact based on several qualities: [18]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Earliest writing in New World discovered Archived September 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine , in In The News, 15 September 2006
  2. "'Oldest' New World writing found". BBC. 2006-09-14. Retrieved 2008-03-30. Ancient civilisations in Mexico developed a writing system as early as 900 BC, new evidence suggests.
  3. "Oldest Writing in the New World". Science . Retrieved 2008-03-30. A block with a hitherto unknown system of writing has been found in the Olmec heartland of Veracruz, Mexico. Stylistic and other dating of the block places it in the early first millennium before the common era, the oldest writing in the New World, with features that firmly assign this pivotal development to the Olmec civilization of Mesoamerica.
  4. In a paper entitled "Oldest Writing in the New World", see Rodríguez Martínez et al. (2006)
  5. Quote taken from Rodríguez Martínez et al. (2006).
  6. Researchers find ancient script on stone, [ permanent dead link ] in Bay Area News, 15 September 2006
  7. Oldest New World Writing Discovered Archived October 23, 2006, at the Wayback Machine , in All Headline News, 16 September 2006
  8. 1 2 Tablet has example of early writing Archived October 28, 2006, at the Wayback Machine , in Montgomery Advertiser, 17 September 2006
  9. Stone slab bears earliest writing in the Americas, in Mohave Daily News , 16 September 2006
  10. Earliest New World Writing Discovered, in National Public Radio, Morning Edition, 15 September 2006
  11. A Stone Age Scoop, in CBS News, 15 September 2006
  12. Magni (2008), pp.64–81
  13. Caterina Magni (2014), Les Olmèques. La genèse de l’écriture en Méso-Amérique edited by Errance/Actes Sud, Paris/Arles. pp. 130–142. ISBN   9782877725439
  14. 1 2 David Freidel and F. Kent Reilly III (2010), The Flesh of God: Cosmology, Food, and the Origins of Political Power in Ancient Southeastern Mesoamerica. in Pre-Columbian Foodways: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Food, Culture, and Markets in Mesoamerica edited by John E. Staller and Michael D. Carrasco. pp. 635–680. Springer. ISBN   1441904719
  15. 1 2 Oldest Writing in New World Discovered, Scientists Say, in National Geographic News, 14 September 2006
  16. Débat autour de la découverte d'une stèle olmèque Archived March 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine , in Le Monde, 17 September 2006
  17. Bruhns, et al.
  18. Englehardt, Joshua D.; Insaurralde Caballero, Mirta A.; Melgar Tísoc, Emiliano R.; Velázquez Maldonado, Luis R.; Guzmán Torres, Viridiana; Bernard, Henri Noel; Carrasco, Michael D. (2020). "Digital Imaging and Archaeometric Analysis of the Cascajal Block: Establishing Context and Authenticity for the Earliest Known Olmec Text". Ancient Mesoamerica. 31 (2): 189–209. doi: 10.1017/S0956536119000257 . ISSN   0956-5361.

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References