A newfangled paper has confirmed and refine an inscription long retrieve impossible to pin down – and it seems to be a commitment to an ancient Mother goddess .

For 2,600 age , a lonely statue has brook at the south bound of a small valley in the midwest of Turkey . Known as Arslan ( or Aslan ) Kaya , the “ Lion Rock ” has been damage to the point of illegibility : its sandstone al-Qaida is wear away ; its font , originally grace with carved Sphinx , lions , and goddess , have been fag out down by 100 of exposure to the ingredient ; and the door and decorative flourishes have fallen to forward-looking treasure seekers arm with dynamite .

At the base of the monument , there ’s an inscription . It ’s written in “ tall minute Phrygian characters , ” immortalize William Mitchel Ramsay , the archeologist who first described Arslan Kaya in 1884 , which are “ not readable at the aloofness from which a looker who has no ladder must mull it . ”

For a spectator whodidhave a run , the situation was not much better . “ The lettering is hopelessly obscure , ” Ramsay later reported , presumptively from slightly eminent up .

While a few investigators tried their hand at reading it over the days , Ramsay has mostly been proven correct : the oecumenical consensus is that the inscriptionprobablysaysμ . τματερα , but it kind of depends on when and how you wait at it as to what you ’ll see on the dot .

“ Much count upon the favorability of the light when photo are taken , ” wrote Mark Munn , a Professor of Ancient Greek History and Archaeology at Penn State and source of thenew composition .

“ uncaused timing of a recent visit to Arslan Kaya allowed me to take photographs that reveal these trace , ” he noted , “ and they are the affair for this report . ”

So , by taking his own photos and comparing them to the best ace collect by premature researchers , Munn set out to trap down exactly which letters had been carved all those years ago .

The final result , he believes , is a dedication to “ Materan ” – “ the name or statute title of the goddess , Matar ( Mother ) in the accusing case , ” the paper excuse . “ This can be understood as a mention to the epitome that once appeared in the niche instantly below her name . ”

That , by the way , is noteworthy . Arslan Kaya is far from the only reference we have of this mysterious Mother goddess from ancient Phrygia , but it is nevertheless unique : “ None of the big ones actually had a fend effigy of the Mother carved in them , ” Munn toldArtNet , “ although credibly movable statue were come in there . ”

“ Arlsan Kaya is unique in that it is ( or was ) the only Phrygian memorial with an simulacrum of the Mother and with an inscription naming her , ” he say .

Based on those other examples of Phrygian monuments , it ’s belike the name was once part of a prospicient lettering , Munn intimate in his report – one which recorded who originally erected the monument , and bring the goddess with an epithet . That would keep an eye on with the so - call Areyastis monument , around 40 kilometers to the southwestward of Arslan Kaya , where the deity is referred to as “ materan areyastin ” .

What that latter word means exactly is indecipherable – and frankly , that ’s part of why people are concerned in these inscriptions . “ The [ Phrygian ] spoken language is not well understood , ” Munn told ArtNet , “ so any novel evidence is of interest to scholars of ancient Anatolian languages and cultures . ”

The newspaper is published in the journalKadmos .