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From http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20181207-how-ai-could-help-us-with-ancient-languages-like-sumerian

The key to cracking long-dead languages?
by Sophie Hardach
December 10, 2018

Developed more than 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers where modern-day Iraq now lies, cuneiform captured life in a complex and fascinating civilisation for some three millennia. From furious letters between warring royal siblings to rituals for soothing a fractious baby, the tablets offer a unique insight into a society at the dawn of history.

...However, since cuneiform was first deciphered by scholars around 150 years ago, the script has only yielded its secrets to a small group of people who can read it. Some 90% of cuneiform texts remain untranslated.

That could change thanks to a very modern helper: machine translation.

Read the full article at http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20181207-how-ai-could-help-us-with-ancient-languages-like-sumerian