Taking a Closer Look

An Anonymous Coward writes: "A researcher at HP Labs has developed a technique using digital cameras to reveal intricate details in ancient Babylonian cuneiform tablets. He was even able to spot an ancient fingerprint! Article at CNET."

Archived history

[Anonymous Coward]

Now that we know that Ur Ningal was a slave trader and likely sold many into bondage, I'd like the Sumerian government to speak out now and condemn this heinous act. Likewise I believe that reparations should be paid by the descendants of Ningal to the families of the slaves he so callously sold into slavery. Let's put an end to this long, horrible chapter of our history.

Not really a "fingerprint"

[SlashGeek]

He was even able to spot an ancient fingerprint!

According to the article, it was a finger print of a scribe who held the tablet while it was still wet. Still, a remarkable accomplishment. But not a fingerprint as we know them today, as an oil residue or a stain. This was an actual 3D impression made in the clay.

And in another 5,000 years...

[glebite]

Archeologists will be noting fingerprints on CD ROMs from ancient Redwood Shores discussing a draft contract involving Bill Gates who sold crappy software. The contract said that if the goods proved faulty, the buyer could just go stuff themselves and wait for the next release.

5000 years have passed since Ur Ningal drew up that contract, and it seems that things have really regressed.

I wonder if there is a DNA link to the fingerprint pattern, and if this encoded sequence could be used to find descendants of good old Ur. Being a slave-trader, I suspect he might have had a few descendants...

Just wondering...