The inscriptions are written on hard surfaces. Many of these were written several hundreds of years ago. All inscriptions contain both scripts and languages. Languages which were used, as well as scripts, have changed over time. So how do scholars understand what was written? This can be done through a process known as decipherment. One of the most famous stories of decipherment comes from Egypt, a country in north Africa where there were kings and queens about 5000 years ago. Rosetta is a town on the north coast of Egypt, and here an inscribed stone was found, which contained inscriptions in three different languages and scripts (Greek, and two forms of Egyptian). Scholars who could read Greek figured out that the names of kings and queens were enclosed in a little frame, called a cartouche. They then placed the Greek and the Egyptian signs side by side, and identified the sounds for which the Egyptian letters stood. As you can see, a lion stood for L, and a bird for A. Once they knew what the letters stood for, they could read other inscriptions as well.
The inscriptions are written on hard surfaces. Many of these were written several hundreds of years ago. All inscriptions contain both scripts and languages. Languages which were used, as well as scripts, have changed over time. So how do scholars understand what was written? This can be done through a process known as decipherment. One of the most famous stories of decipherment comes from Egypt, a country in north Africa where there were kings and queens about 5000 years ago. Rosetta is a town on the north coast of Egypt, and here an inscribed stone was found, which contained inscriptions in three different languages and scripts (Greek, and two forms of Egyptian). Scholars who could read Greek figured out that the names of kings and queens were enclosed in a little frame, called a cartouche. They then placed the Greek and the Egyptian signs side by side, and identified the sounds for which the Egyptian letters stood. As you can see, a lion stood for L, and a bird for A. Once they knew what the letters stood for, they could read other inscriptions as well.
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