The mystery of the lead tablet with an unknown writing of the 13th-14th century
In the Palace of the Grand Dukes Museum in Vilnius, Lithuania, a mysterious lead tablet dating back to the 13th-14th century is on display with writing that is still undeciphered despite been discovered 20 years ago.
The mysterious plaque was found twenty years ago during the exploration of Vilnius castles. Archaeologists were using a metal detector to explore the location of some of the earliest wooden structures expecting to find treasures or weapons. Instead the found a strange object, a rectangular metal strip with unknown engravings.
The metal tablet, nineteen centimeters long, four centimeters wide and almost half a centimeter thick, was found nailed to a wooden base. The plaque attracted the interest of researchers.
Could Lithuanians have had a writing since ancient times and is this the first trace of such a possible writing? So far, no example of ancient Lithuanian writing has been found. Researchers searched for analogues or similar symbols, and as the mysteries grew, it became clear that these were no random scribbles.
The text is clearly made up of multiple lines. The top line seems to be written in two ways: signs and letters while the bottom line has various inscriptions.
The letters only resemble ancient Greek letters, and the person who engraved them may have missed something or combined multiple letters into one, making the document difficult to decipher.
The lead tablet may refer to Grand Duke Algirdas, who ruled Lithuania from 1345 to 1377. The Byzantine emperor is known as Basileus, but Algirdas did not have this title. In a letter to the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1370, he called himself Basileus.
The plaque hides a secret: when the restoration of the find began, it was discovered that there was also an inscription on the back of the plaque. The archaeologist says that many words are similar to names. There is a better preserved two-line inscription, where the inscribed letters can be read as Marem Byoyb. Many other entries alongside could also refer to names. The mysterious inscription was most likely written by more than one person. On the bottom are smaller, slightly different-looking hand-carved soft metal letters, while on the top are meticulously engraved symbols and capital letters.
It is also possible that the inscriptions on the slab are engraved in different languages, making them difficult to read. The names engraved on the tablet could be the signatures of the participants in a commercial agreement. According to the archaeologist, if this version was confirmed, we would have one of the first names of merchants in Lithuania.
