Are the inscribed tablets of Glozel ancient objects, and if so from what period?
Five answers, none aheadNone is ahead yet. See what would settle it.
Where it stands
Five answers have been proposed. None is ahead on the evidence yet. Five are still possible.
Why it matters
The tablets have been called Neolithic, Iron Age, medieval and modern by different investigators working from the same collection. About 40 thermoluminescence dates put some fired clay between about 700 BC and AD 100, more in the thirteenth century and two inscribed tablets in 1910 to 1920, while the only controlled excavations found no prehistoric layer and a medieval glassworks[1][2]. Forensic examination in 1929 found modern fibres and fresh plant matter inside tablets[3].
Answers 5
Next steps 3
1
Join the dates table (glozel_dates.csv) to tablet identities in Morlet's Corpus and the museum numbers, and mark which dated objects are inscribed; test whether inscribed objects fall disproportionately in the modern TL group.
~6 h
—not judged
2
Extract the full 1976 TL sample table (Persée racf.1976.2018) and the 2023 Guilaine-Miallier date lists into the dates dataset so every published date is in one machine-readable file with its laboratory and sampling surface.
~5 h
—not judged
3
Request access to the Musée de Glozel and the MAN holdings to photograph every TL-dated tablet's sign floors under low-power microscopy and record whether each sign was cut before or after firing.
~24 h
—not judged
Ranked by how likely each is to move the key question, for the time it takes
History
- Pedro Bosch Gimpera et al.: the 1927 international commission, digging under guard for four days, found objects only in loose disturbed earth with…For: The inscribed tablets and most of the collection were made between 1924 and 1936, in or near the Fradin farm.
- André Vayson de Pradenne: the state's trenches found no Iron Age layer, the inscribed tablets with laboratory dates are medieval or modern, and…Against: A genuine Iron Age and Gallo-Roman site
- Dorothy Garrod: the 1927 international commission, digging under guard for four days, found objects only in loose disturbed earth with…For: The inscribed tablets and most of the collection were made between 1924 and 1936, in or near the Fradin farm.
- Hugh McKerrell et al.: the 1974 to 1979 TL programme at Edinburgh and Risø dated about 15 objects, tablets and idols among them, to between…For: A genuine Iron Age and Gallo-Roman site
- Hugh McKerrell et al.: about 15 of the 39 TL dates obtained by 1979, including some inscribed tablets, fall between about 700 BC and AD 100…Against: The inscribed tablets and most of the collection were made between 1924 and 1936, in or near the Fradin farm.
- Colin Renfrew: the state's trenches found no Iron Age layer, the inscribed tablets with laboratory dates are medieval or modern, and…Against: A genuine Iron Age and Gallo-Roman site
- Alice Gerard et al.: two inscribed vitrified tablets gave Oxford TL dates of AD 1910 and 1920, and the 1929 forensic examination found…For: The inscribed tablets and most of the collection were made between 1924 and 1936, in or near the Fradin farm.
- Alice Gerard et al.: the roughly 40 TL and radiocarbon dates fall into three groups, Iron Age to Gallo-Roman, medieval centred on the…For: A medieval core enlarged by modern forgery
- Alice Gerard et al.: of about 40 TL and radiocarbon dates only one, a pooled and contaminated bone sample of about 17,000 years that its…Against: Glozel is a Neolithic station and its tablets carry the oldest alphabet known.
- Jean Guilaine: the 1983 state trenches found glassworking debris in every trench inside the site, nothing in the two outside it, and…For: A medieval core enlarged by modern forgery
- DRAC Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes et al.: no archaeological parallel for a medieval deposit of this kind is known, as the state team itself noted, and the full…Against: A medieval core enlarged by modern forgery
- Wikipedia contributors: two inscribed vitrified tablets gave Oxford TL dates of AD 1910 and 1920, and the 1929 forensic examination found…For: The inscribed tablets and most of the collection were made between 1924 and 1936, in or near the Fradin farm.
- Session 1: raised the question and proposed five answers