A basalt tablet bearing 60 mysterious symbols emerges from a Georgian lake, suggesting the existence of a lost writing system.

A carved stone tablet found in southern Georgia bears dozens of symbols that have no clear parallel in known languages or writing systems.

The discovery suggests that part of the region’s written past remains undocumented, with implications for how early societies recorded meaning and authority.

The stone tablet was recovered from Bashplemi Lake in Dmanisi Municipality and contains 60 carved symbols that researchers are now examining to determine its age, origin, and possible function.

Late in the autumn of 2021, fishermen noticed the carved slab when the lake level dropped and mud exposed it.

  • rollin@piefed.socialEnglish
    6·
    1 day ago

    The rock actually appears to be local:

    Measurements put the slab at 9.5 by 7.9 in, close to book size. Researchers identified vesicular basalt, volcanic rock with bubble-like holes, and traced the material to volcanic outcrops around the lake.