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#487 – Irving Finkel: Deciphering Secrets of Ancient Civilizations & Flood Myths

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#487 – Irving Finkel: Deciphering Secrets of Ancient Civilizations & Flood Myths

Lex Fridman Podcast

5 DAYS AGO
Lex Fridman Podcast

Lex Fridman Podcast

5 DAYS AGO
OverviewShownoteHighlightsTranscriptChaptersPins

Shownote

Irving Finkel is a scholar of ancient languages and a longtime curator at the British Museum, renowned for his expertise in Mesopotamian history and cuneiform writing. He specializes in reading and interpreting cuneiform inscriptions, including tablets fro...

Highlights

In this conversation, Irving Finkel, a leading expert in ancient languages and cuneiform script, offers deep insights into the origins and evolution of human writing, thought, and civilization. Drawing from his extensive work at the British Museum, he illuminates how early societies encoded their beliefs, laws, and stories into clay tablets that have survived millennia.
09:53
The oldest evidence of writing dates back to 3500 BC in Mesopotamia
19:17
Writing may have originated with sound-based signs, not pictographs.
23:12
Writing may have existed at Göbekli Tepe around 9000 BC, thousands of years before Sumer.
37:22
Sumerian has no known linguistic relatives and is unrelated to any other language.
39:42
With human brains and vocal anatomy, Neanderthals could communicate using language.
45:13
Edward Hinks, a clergyman in Northern Ireland, cracked cuneiform independently.
58:19
Translation is part archaeology, detective work, and poetry.
1:02:57
Love, heartbreak, and jealousy are eternal human issues also reflected in deities
1:08:08
Religion is an ancient technology that helps humans cope with suffering.
1:10:25
Grief over death may be infantile; knowing it ends is the real pain.
1:26:38
The flood story was repurposed by Judeans in exile to explain their national catastrophe.
1:39:13
The 'noisy people' in the flood myth symbolize overpopulation, prompting gods to limit reproduction.
1:49:03
The desire to play games is part of human nature, sublimating real-world rivalries.
2:01:43
The significance of objects becomes clearer with time and distance

Chapters

Introduction
00:00
Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections
00:43
Origins of human language
09:53
Cuneiform
15:59
Controversial theory about Göbekli Tepe
23:12
How to write and speak Cuneiform
34:23
Primitive human language
39:42
Development of writing systems
41:26
Decipherment of Cuneiform
42:20
Limits of language
54:51
Art of translation
59:51
Gods
1:05:01
Ghosts
1:10:25
Ancient flood stories
1:20:13
Noah's Ark
1:30:21
The Royal Game of Ur
1:41:44
British Museum
1:54:43
Evolution of human civilization
2:02:08

Transcript

Lex Fridman: The following is a conversation with Irving Finkel, who is a scholar of ancient languages, curator at the British Museum for over 45 years, and is a much admired and respected world expert. On cuneiform, script, and more generally, on ancient ...