Scientists have finally read a letter penned 4,000 years ago. Why was there such a long wait? They had to view it without cracking its secure clay envelope.

When scientists handle cuneiform documents from Ancient Assyrian and Babylonian times, extra care must be taken to preserve all parts of the artifact from the seal on the outside of the labeled clay envelope to the document within.

In the past, some of these envelopes were broken to reach the writing inside, but a study from NPJ Heritage Science shows that technology is allowing scientists to read ancient texts, even if they're enclosed.

ENCI -- which stands for Extracting Non-destructively Cuneiform Inscriptions -- is a portable, high-definition CT scanner device that can easily be disassembled for transport. The machine was designed to perform computed tomography on cuneiform clay tablets.

The device was first tested in 2024 at the Louvre Museum in Paris and then used at Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara for three weeks, during which "64 tomograms of 48 tablets and other objects" were recorded.

An opened letter, from Assyrian merchants, gave a look at the role of the wives of long-distance merchants: "often alone and at the head of their households ... these women also intervened in their husbands' business affairs." Below is the full text from the letter from Anna-anna to her husband Ennum-Aššur:

Say to Ennum-Aššur: thus (says) Anna-anna. According to the instructions you sent me, regarding Laqēpum, I have been repeatedly going to him, and he (always answered) as follows: 'I paid the silver to Kudātum.' I checked and went to him (saying) as follows: 'I will certainly get witnesses (to testify) against you in case you did not pay (it) to Kudātum.' He (answered) as follows: 'I will not give the silver to you. When Ennum-Aššur arrives, it will be to him that I will pay (it)!' You are my master. Why do you keep turning your head towards the lapis lazuli? Here, your instructions concerning silver, 10 or 20 minas that are either in Burušhattum, or in Wahšušana, or here, you left your instructions and you keep turning your head towards it. If within 10 days you have not arrived, as for your departure, stand up and come. I hear bad words all the time!

The X-ray tomography also found a 4,000-year-old barley seed in one of the envelopes, and another revealed a message about ancient loans, noting "when the debt is repaid, the creditor gives the document to the debtor, who cancels it by breaking the envelope."

The study notes that ENCI tech findings provide "an opportunity to more easily access information sealed away in various artifacts around the world."