Archeologists, together with anthropologists and paleontologists continuously work to unearth significant fossils, relics and remnants of past civilizations. It is their untiring work that provides the world a glimpse of the rich histories of nations, how civilizations and peoples started and make people understand the past better.
From their numerous findings, there stands out some archeological finds that created a great impact and gave huge benefits to humankind.
Rosetta Stone
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| Rosetta Stone in the British Museum |
The Rosetta Stone is an ancient Egyptian stele, which was displayed at a temple, probably during the early Christian or the Medieval period. It was inscribed with a decree from King Ptolemy V that was issued in Memphis (currently a place south of Cairo, Egypt) in 196 BC. It was discovered by a French soldier named Pierre-François Bouchard in 1799 in the town of Rosetta, now known as Rashid.
It was inscribed in two languages, Egyptian and Greek. The text used three types of scripts: demotic, ancient Greek and hieroglyphic. Its discovery and eventual translation became the key to understanding the formerly undecipherable hieroglyphs created by the Egyptians.
