Short definition/explanation for your presentation or talk:
Why Sumerian language tablets are older than Akkadian ones, and how this was detected:- Sumerian is older because it is the original inventor of the cuneiform script (wedge-shaped writing on clay tablets), starting around 3200–2900 BCE in southern Mesopotamia (cities like Uruk). The earliest tablets are pure Sumerian administrative/economic records from this period.
- Akkadian (a Semitic language) only adopted the same cuneiform script later, around 2350 BCE during the Akkadian Empire (Sargon), adapting it from Sumerian. Pure Akkadian texts appear after that, while Sumerian tablets predate them by centuries to a millennium.
How it was detected / proven in modern times (19th century):Scholars first deciphered Akkadian (easier, as a Semitic language related to Hebrew/Arabic) using trilingual inscriptions like Behistun (Old Persian + Akkadian + Elamite, 1830s–1857). Once Akkadian was readable, experts noticed many ancient tablets (especially from southern sites) contained texts that didn't fit Akkadian grammar or vocabulary — they looked "foreign" or non-Semitic (agglutinative structure, unlike Semitic inflectional patterns). Edward Hincks (1850s) first suspected the script originated from an older, non-Semitic language because Akkadian cuneiform signs were awkwardly adapted (too many values, poor fit for Semitic sounds).The decisive proof came from bilingual tablets (Sumerian-Akkadian parallels) and ancient "dictionaries" (lexical lists) found in Assyrian libraries (e.g., Ashurbanipal's at Nineveh) and Babylonian schools: - These had Sumerian words/signs on one side and Akkadian translations/explanations on the other.
- Akkadian scribes explicitly called it "lišān šumeri" ("Sumerian tongue/language").
- Royal titles like "King of Sumer and Akkad" showed two distinct parts/regions/peoples.
Jules Oppert proposed naming it "Sumerian" in 1869 (based on those titles), and despite debates (e.g., Joseph Halévy claimed it was just priestly code, not a real language — refuted by overwhelming evidence in the 1880s–1890s), it was confirmed: Sumerian was the older, original language behind the script, with tablets dating centuries earlier than widespread Akkadian use.Ultra-short version (1–2 sentences for a slide or quick answer):Sumerian tablets are older (from 2900 BCE) because Sumerians invented cuneiform; Akkadian borrowed it later (2350 BCE). This was detected in the 1850s–1870s through bilingual Sumerian-Akkadian tablets and dictionaries, which showed a distinct, non-Semitic language predating and underlying Akkadian texts — confirmed by scholars like Hincks and Oppert analyzing these "Rosetta Stone"-like parallels.(If you want this formatted as a slide bullet list, or with key dates/images suggestions, let me know!) 
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