I fixed some dead links and made other minor corrections and updates, but did not make any drastic changes in the longer pieces, so their style reflects the times when they were written, years or even decades ago. However, I think they are still relevant to the subjects being discussed.
The answer here is “Yes,” although it is almost all speculation. However, as Nassim Nicholas Taleb likes to say, the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
What was the point of making a fuss over a “than” for a “then” in a piece so full of profanity? There should be a detox facility for proofreaders who have undergone this kind of extreme experience.
From Jennifer Ouellette.
“Readers can’t find their particular fetishes if they’re spelled wrong.”
An Ivory Rod with a Cuneiform Inscription. Abstract [I added a few web links]:
The subject of this contribution is the fragment of an ivory rod with six cuneiform signs
that was found in 2002. The rod came to light in a destruction layer dating to LH III B
Final within a workshop for skilled crafting inside Building XI which is situated in the
northernmost part of the Lower Citadel of Tiryns. The inscription is interpreted as the
first example of an Ugaritic text found outside of the Levant. The text is written from
left to right combining Akkadian logographic numerical signs and at least one letter
of the regular Ugaritic alphabet. After discussing different possibilities concerning the
object’s function. an interpretation as a «tally stick» is proposed. i. e. a mnemonic device
to document numbers. quantities or possibly a message, that was used by Levantine or
Cypriote specialists for skilled crafting who were working in Building XI on behalf of
the palace. The find assemblage in Building XI serves as a reminder that it would be
highly misleading to regard oriental objects like the ivory rod with cuneiform signs or
wall brackets appearing in a Mycenaean harbor town such as Tiryns as mere «exotica».
Instead. contextual analysis demonstrates that the Users were well aware of the special
significance attached to such objects in the east and employed them in accordance with
practices of Near Eastern or Cypriote origin, thus signaling their cultural affiliations.
From Explorator
…. A surprising Bronze Age discovery. More on the Oldest known written record in Europe. Via Explorator.
A Linear B tablet from between 1450 and 1350 B.C.
From Hilbert Space to Dilbert Space, and beyond 