The sharp eye of History major Benjamin Schrantz led to the discovery, during a summer internship at the Oneida County Museum in Utica of a cuneiform inscription on stone dedicated to Assyrian King Shalmaneser V, who ruled the Assyrian Empire 726-722 BCE.
Mr. Schrantz, from Whitesboro, curated a museum exhibit, “The Oneida County Museum: Bringing the World Back Home for 140 Years,” to fulfill a Museum Studies minor internship at Fredonia. The inscription is included in the exhibit that features some of the Oneida County Historical Society’s oldest and most unique artifacts.
While preparing the exhibit, Schrantz found the object within the museum’s archives and concluded that it was mislabeled as Egyptian hieroglyphics. Based on what he learned from Department of History professor John Arnold’s Western Civilization I class, Schrantz recognized the writing as a cuneiform script used to write numerous ancient Near Eastern languages.
At the suggestion or Dr. Arnold, Schrantz reported his find to Dr. David Owen, a professor of Near Eastern Languages at Cornell University. He confirmed it as a cuneiform inscription written in the Akkadian dialect spoken by ancient Assyrians.
The text has been translated as the following: “Shalmaneser, great king; strong king, king of all the world, king of Ashur (?); great king, strong king (?) (son of Ashurnasirpal (?); son of Tukulti-Ninurta, king of all the world, king of Ashur; construction of the ziggurat; of Kalhu (Calah)” Question marks signify a translation of the probable original word.
Chapters 17 and 18 of the biblical book II Kings identify Shalmaneser as the conqueror of Israel who deported and dispersed the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel.
Previously unknown to scholars, Schrantz’s find has been reported for placement in a database maintained at the University of California, Los Angeles (http://cdli.ucla.edu/). It was also highlighted on the social media site ArtifactNY on its #throwbackthursday for Aug. 4. Artifact NY is headed by Don Wild, host of “Mysteries of the Museum,” which airs on the Travel Channel.
