A Proposed Translation of an Altai Mountain Inscription Presumed to Be from the 7th Century BC

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine an Old Hungarian inscription that was recently found in the Altai mountain and was claimed to be over 2600 years old, which would make it the oldest extant example of the Old Hungarian script. A careful observation of the Altai script and a comparison with other Old Hungarian inscriptions was made, during which several errors were discovered in the interpretation of the Old Hungarian signs. After correcting for these errors that were apparently introduced by mixing up the inscription with underlying engravings of animal images, a new sequence of Old Hungarian signs was obtained and translated into a new text. The context of the text indicates that the inscription is considerably more recent and is unlikely to be earlier than the 19th century.