Only a few ancient scripts remain unread by archaeologists. Linear Elamite was one of them, and its deciphering by French researcher Dr. François Desset in 2020 has been deemed as “one of the major archaeological discoveries of the last decades” by archaeologists, comparing it to the decipherment of hieroglyphs by Champollion in 1822 or of Linear B (an ancient Greek script) in 1952 by Michael Ventris.
Euraxess Strasbourg is much honoured to invite you, in the framework of its cultural programme for international researchers, to a presentation by the decipherer of linear Elamite himself, Dr. François Desset.
Dr. Desset is an archaeologist specialising in the ancient Near East and Iran. He taught at the University of Tehran from 2015 to 2020, conducted archaeological work on the Jiroft civilisation (south-eastern Iran) from 2006 to 2020, and succeeded, more than a century after its discovery in Susa in 1903, in deciphering linear Elamite writing.
In his lecture, Dr. Desset will present the stages of the recent decipherment of linear Elamite, a script used on the Iranian Plateau in the 3rd millennium BCE. Following its description, this system will be contextualised within the broader framework of the global history of writing, alongside Mesopotamian cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs.
When? => Monday 25th of March, 10am
Where? => Redslob room, 4th floor – Faculté de droit - 1 place d’Athènes (Esplanade campus)
🇬🇧 The presentation will be in English 🇬🇧
Picture: detail of an inscription in Linear Elamite script on a silver vase, Iran, 21st century BCE. (C) François Desset
