A new collection of clay vessel fragments, or ostraca, which historically used in writing mourning words in different languages including Greek and Arabic was disclosed in Egypt.

During a joint Egyptian and German mission, the disclosure happened at Al-Sheikh Hamad archaeological site at Tel Atribis, a town in Sohag of the Upper Egyptian governorates famous of monumental sites.

“This discovery sheds light on the economy and trade in Atribis throughout history. The text reveals the financial transactions of the area’s inhabitants, who bought and sold provisions such as wheat and bread,” Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the antiquities ministry’s Supreme Council of Antiquities said on Wednesday, December 16, According to the Egyptian website ” Ahram online ”

The website quoted Christian Latis, head of the German mission, as saying that archaeologists are now studying the ostraca in order to learn more about the activities of the area’s past inhabitants.

He indicated that the text written on the ostraca indicates that the area may have housed a school for teaching demotic, hieratic, hieroglyphic and Greek writing.