# Alster raised the Emesal hypothesis in 1982 as a question; it has been neither confirmed nor refuted since, because…

> Alster raised the Emesal hypothesis in 1982 as a question; it has been neither confirmed nor refuted since, because the texts omit the grammatical…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/unread-cuneiform/evidence/EVD0DEDYRQK753M/alster-raised-the-emesal-hypothesis-in-1982-as-a-question-it  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Unread cuneiform: half a million tablets and the limits of Sumerian](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/unread-cuneiform)Evidence

Evidence · Unread cuneiform: half a million tablets and the limits of Sumerian

# Alster raised the Emesal hypothesis in 1982 as a question; it has been neither confirmed nor refuted since, because…

Alster raised the Emesal hypothesis in 1982 as a question; it has been neither confirmed nor refuted since, because the texts omit the grammatical elements by which Emesal is identified in later periods.

Speculative0

## What it means

Key question[Why do the Early Dynastic literary texts from Fara and Abu Salabikh resist reading, and can they be read without later duplicates?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/unread-cuneiform/questions/QST0DEDT3AM4NHK/why-do-the-early-dynastic-literary-texts-from-fara-and-abu)

3 answers, none ahead yet

**Open** unchanged

Answer this evidence bears on[UD.GAL.NUN hides an early Emesal](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/unread-cuneiform/answers/ANS0DEDWV6KQY5W/ud-gal-nun-hides-an-early-emesal)

Bears onnone for, none against

**Still possible** was No evidence yet

## Next steps 1

1

Compile the full UD.GAL.NUN substitution table from Krecher, Krebernik and Lisman and test its regularity across the Fara and Abu Salabikh tablets on CDLI.

~20 h

[On: Why do the Early Dynastic literary texts from Fara and Abu Salabikh resist reading, and can they be read without later duplicates?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/unread-cuneiform/questions/QST0DEDT3AM4NHK/why-do-the-early-dynastic-literary-texts-from-fara-and-abu)

**—** not judged

Ranked by how likely each is to move the key question, for the time it takes

## Sources 2

[Emesal in Early Dynastic Sumerian? What is the UD.GAL.NUN-Orthography?](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJ7JQW301/emesal-in-early-dynastic-sumerian-what-is-the-ud-gal-nun)

Alster 1982

SRC

[Sumerian language (Wikipedia article)](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJNJFJGDJ/sumerian-language-wikipedia-article)

contributors 2026

SRC

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). Alster raised the Emesal hypothesis in 1982 as a question; it has been neither confirmed nor refuted since, because… [Evidence EVD0DEDYRQK753M]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/EVD0DEDYRQK753M
```

Key

**EVD** 0DEDYRQK753M

Kind

Evidence

Tier

Speculative

Version

1

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