Oldest Writing is of War on Locusts.
A number of ancient Sumerian tablets recording the deeds of the Babylonians thousands of years ago have just been deciphered by George A. Barton, at the University of Pennsylvania museum. One of these tablets, which tells how a farmer rid his field of locusts and caterpillars, is dated 4,000 B. C., and is the oldest piece of writing extant, according to an announcement to-night by officials of the museum. The farmer, Doctor Barton’s translation says, called in a necromancer, who “broke a jar, cut open a sacrifice, a word of cursing he repeated, and the locusts and caterpillars fled.” For this service he received a tall palm tree.