“Ancient Sumerian Biologists: Did the Sumerians know about the genetic code?”

by Joop Van der Miel (Archaeological Unit, University of Amsterdam) with  thanks for assistance to Mary Carmen Valencia  (Dept of Archaeology, Universidad Iberoamericana) Magda Poborsky (Biomedical faculty, UNAM, Mexico City)

I acquired a Mesopotamian pot several years ago in an auction, the original owner a German collector who had found the pot on an excavation of Tell ‘Uqair about eighty miles south of Baghdad, back in the 1920s.

The pot contains 5 clay tablets, immaculately preserved, each inscribed with clearly visible cuneiform.  In the Mesopotamian region it is quite common to find remains of pots in the ruins of a settlement.  The place had been sacked and burned to the ground.  This had the effect of firing the clay tablets, rendering indelible any writing.

Most Sumerian writing, characteristically wedge-shaped markings, is sun-baked onto the clay tablets.  After thousands of years, the inscriptions on these sun-baked tablets become un-readable. But when a village perishes in flames it often provides archaeologists with a valuable treasure: written records of the civilisation.

The Sumerian script was deciphered several decades ago. Thousands of tablets have been translated, providing a rich understanding of the myths, religious life, accounting practices and culture of the ancient civilisation, believed to be the oldest on Earth.

But there are still thousands of clay tablets which are as yet undiscovered, untranslated, or simply too damaged; indecipherable.

The fifth  Tell ‘Uqair tablet is of particular interest because it uses twenty symbols or ‘logograms’, whose meanings are known. Yet this tablet uses the logograms in an entirely novel context.

Sumerian language, like some modern languages such as Hungarian (but unlike ancient Mayan), is ‘agglutinative’.  Words are built up by stringing forms together. Therefore, a basic word, symbolised by a collection of markings known as a ‘logogram’, can be made more complex by the serial addition of different vowels and consonants. These quite literally build up as additional markings on the original logogram.

Together, the additional markings and the original ‘root’ logogram, now convey a new meaning. Sometimes, two different logograms are be combined to create a composite logogram, with a new meaning.

All five of the Tell‘Uqair tablets appear to deal with matters of medicine and the treatment of various ailments.

The fifth tablet contains twenty logograms with ‘supplementary signs’ to help clarify any ‘polyphony’.

Polyphony is when there is more than one meaning for a given word. It was used in some ancient languages as in modern, ancient Mayan writing included.  For example, the English word ‘fleet’ which can mean ‘speedy’ but also it can mean a collection of ‘naval vessels’.

In Sumerian writing, polyphony is widely used. Supplementary signs appear as modifications to certain logograms where more than one meaning was possible.  These modifications help place the logogram into the correct context. For example the logogram for the word ‘naga’, when modified in a certain manner could signify ‘raven’, instead of ‘soap’.

The supplementary signs on the twenty logograms inscribed on the fifth  tablet from Tell‘Uqair are totally unknown, different to any which has already been observed on this set of logograms.

The meaning of the logograms must be something entirely different.
The question is: what?

Decipherment of the fifth Tell ‘Uqair tablet
The logograms are grouped into seven groups.  The numbers of logograms in each group are one of six, two of three and four of two.  Alongside each logogram on the tablet is a brief description, translated into phrases such as:

entukumše igi – ‘As long as the first’.

On the reverse side of the tablet the entire list of logograms appears again. This time they are not grouped but simply ordered according to a single property.

For example: ‘ul eš’ meaning ‘love of water’ or perhaps more precisely; solubility.

There are twenty of these strangely modified logograms and their groupings.

Thanks to the collaboration of Dr. Valencia and Dr. Poborsky, I was able to make the following leap of insight:

Proteins are made from twenty amino acids grouped as follows:
•    one group of six amino acids (known by modern biologists as ‘aliphatic’)
•    two groups of three amino acids (‘basic’ and ‘aromatic’)
•    four groups of two amino acids (‘acidic’, ‘hydroxlyic’, ‘amidic’, ‘sulphur-containing’)

The exact same number and sizes of groups as that of the twenty mysterious logograms on the fifth tablet from Tell‘Uqair

Could it be that the unusually modified logograms actually represent twenty amino acids?

The descriptions appended to each logogram, seem to compare each of the logograms to the others in the group, comparing properties such as their length, and alkalinity.  Finally, the entire list as it appears on the reverse of the clay tablet, can be used to place the logograms in order of inherent solubility.

This is analogous to comparing the molecular lengths, alkalinity and solubility of the carbon-based amino acids. Using this rudimentary guide to the relative properties of each amino acid it was possible to work out which of these specially modified logograms represents which amino acid.

The Calendar That Ends

Most calendars have a start date - the day people begin to record their history. The Mayan Long Count Calendar of the Ancient Maya starts in August 3114BC.

And ends on 22 Dec 2012.

What will happen on that date? What did the ancient Maya know that we don’t?

Our Top Five Doom 2012 Theories

1. The Asteroid of 2012

An asteroid crashing into the ocean near the Yucatan Peninsula is thought to have caused the exinction event that killed the dinosaurs. There’s no doubt that if a very big asteroid crashed into the Earth, the climate would be severely affected. There could be famine and drought on an unimaginable scale.

Are any big, bad asteroids or even a comet headed our way?

Some think that the mysterious Planet X - or Niburu - is on a collision course with the planet.

And people who believe that there are coded messages from the future hidden in the bible have spotted a prediction that a comet will hit the Earth in 2012.

2. The Galactic Superwave

Physicist and archaeoastronomer Paul LaViolette has written of the potential for a volley or ’superwave’ of gamma ray energy that could be released from explosions in the Galactic Core.

This type of energy would have grave consquences for all living creatures on Earth.

And according to Dr. LaViolette, it has happened before.

“Employing sophisticated cryptographic puzzle techniques similar to those modern astronomers use in designing extraterrestrial communications, they created a time capsule message that described the elusive celestial cause of this tragic disaster, alerting us that it could recur at long intervals and arrive at Earth’s doorstep virtually without warning.”

(source etheric.com/)

3. Reversal of the Earth’s Magnetic Poles

The Earth’s core is made of molten iron. Iron is magnetic, and the Earth behaves like a giant magnet. Every so often, for reasons that aren’t fully understood, the poles reverse. The North pole becomes South.

Some people believe that the next pole reversal will take place in 2012.

No-one is sure what the effect will be on the human population. There may be no obvious effect. Or the change might be catastrophic.

In a book entitled “The Orion Prophecy” Patrick Geryl explores the idea that the poles will reverse in 2012 and that furthermore, the Ancient Maya and Egyptians knew about it and predicted the event in their writings.

4. A Supervolcano Explodes

Volcanoes are mountains that are created when an underground pool of magma erupted and explodes out of the Earth’s crust.

There are volcanoes…and then there are calderas.

In caldera, the pool of underground magma is so huge it’s like a lake. When a caldera explodes the crater is so large that you can fit whole towns inside the crater.

Geologists think that the last caldera explosion was in Sumatra, 74,000 years ago. The crater is now Lake Toba. There is also evidence from the human genetic record that around that time the human population was reduced to only 15,000 people.

Did the caldera under Lake Toba explode and almost wipe out the human race 74,000 years ago?

Geologists believe that there are cycles of caldera explosions. By some predictions the next one is due around 2012.

Could it happen again?

5. Galactic Alignment

The final theory is not one of doom and gloom, but of hope for a rebirth in human consciousness.

John Major Jenkins is a researcher who has studied the Mayan calendar and Mayan writings. He has written that Mayan mythology predicts that the Milky Way galaxy will reach a special alignment on 21 Dec 2012.

“The December solstice sun shifts along the constellations very slowly, and for thousands of years it has been proceeding backwards through the sidereal constellations of Aquarius, Capricorn, and into Sagittarius. The Milky Way crosses through the zodiac in early Sagittarius, forming the Maya Sacred Tree or “crossroads” in the sky. At some point in time, an era defined by the alignment of the December solstice sun and the Milky Way will occur. It is an astronomical fact that this alignment of the solstice sun and the Milky Way occurs in the years around 2012, and my theory begins with this clue to examine how the astronomical features involved in this “galactic alignment” are central to various Mesoamerican institutions, including the ballgame and the Hero Twin Creation Myth. “

Some believe that this new alignment of the galaxy will bring about a shift in human consciousness.

But what does that actually mean?

Telepathy, a rebirth in spirituality, people living a more simple, balanced life - all these have been spoken of.

Here at archaeologyconspiracies.com we really don’t know what to think. Except that we’re aware of the interest of shadowy groups like the Sect of Huracan in the 2012 mystery.

Do these groups have information that they aren’t sharing?

What will really happen in 2012? Who really knows…and what are they doing about it?