Babylonian Tablets Help Unraveling Space’s Weirdest Mysteries

Ancient Babylonian tablets from 3,000 years ago help scientists solve one of the most peculiar mysteries in space.

A recent study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that ancient Babylonian cuneiform tablets could hold key scientific insights into the Earth’s geomagnetic field. The Levantine Iron Age Anomaly (LIAA) is an example of a strange anomaly in the Earth’s magnetic field, similar to the Bermuda Triangle of space. Researchers studying clay cuneiform captured key data about LIAA using archaeomagnetism, allowing them to see a snapshot of the anomaly. The strength of the magnetic field in Mesopotamia was more than one and a half times stronger than it is in the area today, with a massive spike happening sometime between 604 B.C. and 562 B.C. By combining the results of archaeomagnetic tests and transcriptions of ancient languages on bricks, researchers were able to confirm this spike likely occurred during Nebuchadnezzar II’s reign.

Archaeomagnetism

Archaeomagnetism isn’t a silver bullet that can completely replace linguistic analysis of inscriptions like these. Despite advances in archaeomagnetism, it is still methodologically complex and often tedious work that requires cautious data sifting to arrive at accurate interpretations. However, when combined with expertise from humanities scholars such as historians and linguists, archaeomagnetism opens up new worlds of study across all disciplines.

The symbiotic interdependence between humanities and sciences deepens further when considering that the original locations of the team’s fragments likely include the earliest known centers of astrology and mathematics in Sumeria. The Babylonian Astronomical Diaries are one of, if not the most extended continuous research program ever undertaken, allowing us to pinpoint historical events from thousands of years ago.

The looting, destruction, and loss of cultural history is not just an “arts and culture” problem but also a problem for science departments. When universities short-sell arts and humanities programs, they risk losing valuable historical blueprints for scientific research that could cost billions in grants trying to reinvent what has already been discovered.

Read the original article on: Salon

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