Researchers at Tel Aviv University and Ariel University have developed an artificial intelligence model that can automatically translate Akkadian text written in cuneiform into English.

Experts in Assyriology – who specialize in the archaeological, historical, cultural and linguistic study of Assyria and the rest of ancient Mesopotamia –spend many years painstakingly trying to understand Akkadian texts written in cuneiform, one of the oldest forms of writing known.

Cuneiform is translated as “wedge-shaped” because in ancient times, people wrote it using a reed stylus cut to make a wedge-shaped mark on a clay tablet.

But now, researchers at Tel Aviv University and Ariel University have developed an artificial intelligence model that will save all this effort. The artificial intelligence model can automatically translate Akkadian text written in cuneiform into English.