Oldest Readable Writing In Europe Discovered

Marks on a clay tablet fragment found in Greece are the oldest known decipherable text in Europe, a new study says. Considered 'magical or mysterious' in its time, the writing survives only because a trash heap caught fire some 3,500 years ago, according to researchers.

Found in an olive grove in what's now the village of Iklaina in the municipality of Pylos, prefecture of Messenia, the tablet was created by a Greek-speaking Mycenaean scribe between 1450 and 1350 B.C., archaeologists say. The markings on the tablet fragment are early examples of a writing system known as Linear B.