Name/Location

Year Found & Excavator/Discoverer

Date of Writing, Script & Language

Rosetta Stone, near village of Rosetta, Egypt

1799 by Captain Boussard, significance determined in 1822

Approx 200 B.C.; Hieroglyphic, Demotic, Greek

Sheskonk Inscription, Karnak (Thebes), temple of Amun

1825, then 1896 when Flinders Petrie recognized its significance

Approx 920 B.C.; Egyptian Hieroglyphics

Taylor Prism, Nineveh

1830 by J.E. Taylor

850 B.C.; Akkadian

Behistun Inscription; rock face over village of Behistun, Zagros Mountains, Iran

1835 by Henry Rawlinson

Darius the Great 521-485 B.C.; Akkadian, Elamite, Old Persian

Sargon’s Palace; Khorsabad near Nineveh

1843-1844 by Paul Emile Botta

722-705 B.C.; Akkadian

Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser; Calah (Ancient Himrud)

1846 Austin Henry Layard

850 B.C.; Akkadian

Sennacherib’s Palace, Nineveh

1849-1851 by Austin Henry Layard

Approx 700 B.C.

Seven Enuma Elish Tablets, Nineveh (Library of Ashurbanipal)

1850; Studied by Geo. Smith 1872-73

7th century B.C. with other fragments as early as 2300 B.C.; Akkadian

Gilgamesh Epic (12 Tablets), Nineveh (Library of Ashurbanipal)

City of Susa, in steppe country east of Tigris

1851 Wiliam K Loftus

6th Century B.C.

Moabit Stone, Dibon in Moab

1868 by Rev. K. Klein

840 B.C.; Moabite

Cyrus Cylinder, Babylon

1879-1882, Rassam

539/7 B.C.; Cuneiform

Siloam Inscription, Jerusalem

1880 young boy; translated by A.H. Sayce

701 B.C.; Classical Hebrew

Nabonidus Chronicle

1882 by T. G. Pinches

555-539 B.C.; Cuneiform

Amarna Tablets , Tell el Amarna

1887 Egyptian woman; Flinders Petrie excavated

14th century B.C.; Akkadian

Elephantine Papyri, Elephantine Island, Aswan, Egypt

1893; C.E. Wilbour (student) purchased from Arab women

5th century B.C.; Aramaic

Merenptah Selah, Thebes

1896 by Flinders Petrie

1220 B.C.; Hieroglyphics

Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Oxyrhynchus, Egypt

1898-1914 by Robert Koldewey

600 B.C.; Cuneiform

Babylon, Palaces of Nebuchadnezzar and Naboloplassar

1898-1914 by Robert Koldewey

600 B.C.; Cuneiform

Code of Hammurabi, Susa

1901 by M.J. deMorgan

1755 B.C., Akkadian

Beni Hasan Tomb Paintings, Beni Hasan, Nile River

1902-1904 & 07 by John Garstang

1892 B.C.; Hieroglyphics

Sumerian King List, Kish

1906 fragments found; published by Langton in 1923

2256-2000 B.C.; Cuneiform

Hittite Documents, Boghazkoy (ancient Hattusah)

1906-07 & 1911-12 by Hugo Winckler

16th Century B.C.; Hittite Cuneiform

Gezer Calendar, Gezer, Israel

1908 by R. A. MacAlister

10th century B.C.; Hebrew

Ur; Iraq

1922-34 by C. Leonard Woolley

2500 B.C.; Cuneiform

Nuzi Tablets

1925-41, Edward Chiera

15th Century B.C.; Hurrian

Ras Shamra Tablets; Ugarit

1929-37; C.F.A. Schaeffer

15th Century B.C., Akkadian

Persepolis, Iran

1931; Ernst Herfeld

Approx 500 B.C.; Persian, Elamite

Khorsabad King List; Sargon’s Palace

1932-33; published by Edward Chiera

Early 3rd Millennium to about 600 B.C.; Cuneiform

Mari Letters; Tel-Hariri

1933; Andre Parrot

18th century B.C.; Akkadian

Lachish Ostraca, Israel

1933-1938; James Starkey

588 B.C., Cursive Phoenician

Dead Sea Scrolls, Qumran, Israel

1947 Bedouin boy, then Sukenik, Trever & Albright

2nd Century B.C. & later; Hebrew & Aramaic

Babylonian Chronicle, Babylon

1956, Donald Wiseman

626-594 B.C.; Akkadian

Megiddo; Israel

1960, 65-67; Yigael Yadin

2nd Millennium B.C.

Pontius Pilate Inscription, Caesarea Theatre

1961; A. Frova

26-26 A.D.; Greek

Ebla Tablets (15,000 fragments), Syria

1974; Paolo Matthie

2300 B.C.; NW Semitic Cuneiform