There may be something more to be gained by analyzing Chief Joseph’s story about how his family came by the tablet. Joseph’s story of how his ancestors came by the tablet echoes the legends told in both North and South America about white culture-bringers. If in fact Joseph’s ancestors got the cuneiform tablet from the white visitors, it might be possible that the tablet provides a clue about where, and even when, the white visitors came from originally.
Cuneiform was the form of writing that was used in the Mesopotamian region from about 3,000 B.C. to roughly the beginning of the Common Era. Perhaps the tablet’s general age could be determined, which might in turn help to pinpoint the time of the visitor’s arrival among the ancestors of the Nez Perce chief. It might be worth a try . . .
Showing posts with label Chief Joseph. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chief Joseph. Show all posts
Monday, March 23, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Chief Joseph’s Cuneiform Tablet
The story of Chief Joseph’s tablet isn’t one of the better-known tales of an object-out-of-place, but it is intriguing.
When the Nez Perce Chief Joseph and his band of warriors were captured by the U.S. Cavalry in 1877, the contents of his medicine bag included a cuneiform tablet measuring about one inch square. Said to date from around 2400 B.C., the tablet turned out to be a bill of sale for either a lamb or a calf to be used as a sacrificial offering. The chief said that the tablet had been passed down in his family for many generations, and that they had inherited it from their white ancestors. Chief Joseph said that the white men had come among his ancestors long ago, and had taught his people many things.
There are several interesting things about this story. Cuneiform tablets were still relatively rare in 1877. It is highly unlikely that some acquaintance of the Nez Perce chief would have had such an object to begin with. And Chief Joseph was a man of honor. He would have had nothing to gain by saying that his family had possessed the tablet for many generations.
The mundane nature of the contents of the tablet argues against forgery. Cuneiform had only been deciphered in 1846 and the process was far from complete even in 1877, so a would-be forger would have had to be an extremely well educated individual familiar not only with the language itself, but with the shape of the tablets created by the ancient scribes.
The tablet now resides in the museum at West Point in Virginia.
When the Nez Perce Chief Joseph and his band of warriors were captured by the U.S. Cavalry in 1877, the contents of his medicine bag included a cuneiform tablet measuring about one inch square. Said to date from around 2400 B.C., the tablet turned out to be a bill of sale for either a lamb or a calf to be used as a sacrificial offering. The chief said that the tablet had been passed down in his family for many generations, and that they had inherited it from their white ancestors. Chief Joseph said that the white men had come among his ancestors long ago, and had taught his people many things.
There are several interesting things about this story. Cuneiform tablets were still relatively rare in 1877. It is highly unlikely that some acquaintance of the Nez Perce chief would have had such an object to begin with. And Chief Joseph was a man of honor. He would have had nothing to gain by saying that his family had possessed the tablet for many generations.
The mundane nature of the contents of the tablet argues against forgery. Cuneiform had only been deciphered in 1846 and the process was far from complete even in 1877, so a would-be forger would have had to be an extremely well educated individual familiar not only with the language itself, but with the shape of the tablets created by the ancient scribes.
The tablet now resides in the museum at West Point in Virginia.
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