Back in the 1950s, archaeologists uncovered some clay tablets while sifting through what’s left of Ugarit, an ancient city in Syria. The inscriptions–cuneiforms sings–were in the long-forgotten hurrian language. After much study, it was determined that these tablets were sheet music.
In 1972, a professor of Asssyriology at the University of California figured out how to transcibe these symbols into modern musical notation. After Anne Draffkorn Kilmer published her work, others took up the cause. Together with her colleague Richard Crocker, an album called Sounds From Science was recorded. Here’s a sample of what’s the oldest known song in the history of humankind. It was written at least 3,400 years ago–making it slightly older than anything in the Jagger/Richards canon.
It seems to in 4/4 time. Can a dance mix be far behind?
Read the full story at Open Culture.
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