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Dispilio Tablet

The Dispilio Tablet is a wooden tablet bearing inscribed symbols dated between 7260 BC and 5250 BC; the table was discovered in Dispilio Lake settlement , Makednos municipality of Kastoria, by George Chourmouziadis. [Source ]

The Dispilio Tablet (also known as the Dispilio Scripture or Disk) is a wooden tablet bearing inscribed symbols (charagmata), dated (according to the carbon 14 method) to about 7300 years before present. The Dispilio Tablet, discovered in 1993, is among numerous archaeological findings located in the Neolithic lake settlement of Dispilio in the northern Greek prefecture of Kastoria. The lake settlement of Dispilio was accidentally discovered in 1932 by Antonios Keramopoulos, a Greek university professor. In 1992, archaeological excavations began at the site, with a team led by the professor of prehistoric archaeology from Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, George Chourmouziadis.

At the Dispilio lake settlement a number of items were found, including ceramics, structural elements, fruits, bones, figurines, the first Neolithic flute found in Europe and the most significant finding, the Dispilio Tablet, its discovery first made public by Dr. Chourmouziadis at an annual archaeological symposium in February 1994 at the University of Thessaloniki. The findings were extensivley published in the June 2000 issue of Eptakyklos with almost 150 pages of articles, sketches and photographs. These included articles by Professor Chourmouziadis and members of his team, concerning lake dwellings in general and on the site's paleoenvironment, botany, fishing techniques, tools and ceramics.

Linear A symbols of the Dispilio Tablet

Linear A symbols of the Dispilio Tablet.[Source]

Moreover, the age of the lake settlement in Kastoria was developed between 5,500 B.C. and 5,000 B.C. There was some damage to the tablet when it was abruptly exposed to the oxygen-rich environment outside of the mud and water it was immersed in for a long period of time. A recreation of the lake dwellers' settlement has been erected near the site.