One of the oldest songs ever discovered. 3K years old - found on a clay tablet

This is one of the oldest songs ever discovered. Over 3,000 years old - found on a clay tablet in ancient Syria More info - - for our Rumble and Whatfinger News info-junkies: The artifact shown in the provided screenshot and linked X post is a clay tablet containing the Hurrian Hymn No. 6 (also known as h.6), which is widely regarded as the oldest surviving example of notated music in human history.

Overview What it is: This is a cult hymn written in the Hurrian language, dedicated to Nikkal (also spelled Ningal), an ancient Near Eastern goddess associated with orchards and fertility. The tablet includes lyrics that appear to describe religious offerings to the goddess, possibly divided into sections with refrains. Below the lyrics, it features musical notation in Akkadian cuneiform script, providing instructions for performance on a nine-stringed lyre (known as a sammûm). The notation specifies interval names (e.g., terms like "nid qabli" referring to specific string pairs) followed by numbers, indicating a melody in a diatonic scale. However, it lacks details on rhythm, tempo, or dynamics, leading to interpretive challenges.
Age and Historical Context: The hymn dates to approximately the 14th century BC (around 1400 BC), during the Late Bronze Age. It reflects the musical and religious practices of the Hurrian people, who were part of a broader cultural milieu in the ancient Near East, including influences from Babylonian musical theory. The tablet is part of a larger collection of about 36 Hurrian hymns discovered together, but Hymn No. 6 is the only one preserved well enough for substantial reconstruction—most others are fragmentary.

Discovery Details: Location: The tablet was excavated from the ruins of the Royal Palace in the ancient Amorite-Canaanite city of Ugarit, located at the archaeological site of Ras Shamra in northern Syria (near the modern city of Latakia, on the Mediterranean coast).
Date of Discovery: It was unearthed during archaeological excavations in the early 1950s (specifically between 1950 and 1955) by a French team led by Claude Schaeffer. The site's strata confirmed the tablets' origin in the 14th century BC.
Excavation Context: The hymns were found among thousands of cuneiform tablets in the palace archives, which included administrative, literary, and religious texts. The specific tablet for Hymn No. 6 (cataloged as RS 15.30+15.49+17.387 or U.7/1) was broken but largely intact, with the text arranged in a continuous spiral across both sides (recto and verso). A colophon (scribal note) at the end attributes the writing to a scribe named Ammurabi and specifies the tuning as "nitkibli" (or nid qabli).

Interpretation and Reconstructions: How it was Decoded: Modern interpretations began in the 1970s, pioneered by scholars like Anne Draffkorn Kilmer (an Assyriologist) and Marcelle Duchesne-Guillemin (a musicologist). They cross-referenced the notation with Babylonian musical texts, mapping the interval terms to a heptatonic (seven-note) diatonic scale. The first public performance of a reconstruction occurred in 1974.
Variations and Controversies: There are at least five competing reconstructions, leading to different melodic interpretations due to ambiguities in the notation (e.g., how intervals align with lyrics, or whether the scale was read "upside down" in early attempts). Notable versions include those by Kilmer, Duchesne-Guillemin, Raoul Vitale, and Theo Krispijn. Some extend the melody to fit the lyrics more fully, while others stick closely to the indicated intervals. Debates persist because the Hurrian language is not fully understood, and the notation is descriptive rather than prescriptive like modern sheet music—it focuses on tunings and string pairs rather than precise pitches or rhythms.
Modern Performances: The video in the X post appears to feature a reconstruction performed on a replica lyre, likely by musician Peter Pringle (based on common renditions of this hymn). Such performances aim to evoke the original sound but are speculative, often incorporating elements from ancient Mesopotamian music theory.

Current Status: Where it's Housed: The original tablet is preserved in the National Museum of Damascus in Syria.
Significance: As the earliest known piece of written music, it provides invaluable insights into ancient tuning systems, scales, and the role of music in religious rituals. It predates other notated music (like Greek fragments) by over a millennium. - Grok
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