Irving Finkel Teaches Us Cuneiform 

Thanks to Irving Finkel for joining us on the bench, and to all at the British Museum for your help putting this together! --Matt

A powerful wizard teaches an ancient language to two students

"if you press it hard, you'll get a splinter and gradually bleed to death." God I love this guy.

Is it possible to adopt a grandfather?

Dr Finkel is both what I would expect from a curator of the British museum and not at all what I would expect.

Dr. Finkel is amazing but he does tend to Babylon...

Tom, Kanji is the only Japanese alphabet that isn't a syllabary. Hiragana and Katakana are the two that are

I'd definitely watch a series of Irving teaching you two random obscure historical stuff. His enthusiasm for things is really wonderful to see.

Nice to see a Dr Irving/ Tom reunion after their match of the royal game of ur

I love when Mat says there should be a second T and dr Finkel rightly scoffs at such rubbish as a superflous T

Dr Finkel epitomises the Great British eccentric. He seems like such a wonderful and passionate man.

3:31 😄 Tom: “It's a /sɪˈlæbəɹi/…” Dr Finkel: “It's a /ˈsɪləbɛɹi/.”

Irving Finkel is epic, he's like exactly how I imagine a professor type boffin of history, and entertaining to listen to on top

After only a few minutes I realise that Matt and Toms curiosity and Dr Finkels knowledge and attitude fit perfectly.

It's not the size of the stylus, It's the impressions you make with it.

isn't it weird that matt's name is ma-at and tom's name is ta-am? THE PLOT THICKENS

I will watch every video with Irving Finkel in it, he's like a character from a childhood book came to life

I was fully expecting Dr. Irving to urgently leave either by TARDIS or Portkey

Life is simple: I see Irving Finkel in the title, I click like.

Archaeologists in a few thousand years' time are going to be incredibly confused by these three tablets...

Today's show is sponsored by the word Cuneiform.

If anyone here isn't subscribed to the British museum's RU-vid channel, do it right now! They have a bunch of super interesting series and criminally low viewership.

I love Dr. Finkel so much!

Tom, you need to have Dr. Finkel on your channel more frequently. I'm sure he's a busy man, but he's terribly entertaining and he likely has a wealth of knowledge to share.

So rename the channel to "Mat and Tam" now?

This ought to have been on Tom's main channel to reach a wider audience. Fascinating stuff, I was properly entertained and educated at the same time.

Dr Finkel needs to be on a Technicsl difficulties Citation needed show He'd provably wipe the floor with you

We need more Irving in your videos!

I just realised Tom and Matt's names are basically each others name backwards

The only way this could be bettered is if you invited Irving Finkel along to the next Amazon affiliate video with Hannah Witton...

I love Dr Finkel's enthusiasm, and this was a great video. I think this could have even gone on the main channel, despite being less structured and edited.

Why are British people so delightful? I could listen to them talk about absolutely anything.

Tom displaying his linguistic training.

Irving is such a great character. I could listen to him talk about pretty much anything with that enthusiasm.

Prof Irving is one the world's great nerds.

what a guest

I think this video deserves a re-upload. A newer audience and more people need to see this and appreciate Irving.

This is one of the coolest persons I have ever seen on RU-vid. I'm now going to spend the next few hours watching Finkel videos. We live in fantastic times. I love the Internet.

I watched a few videos of Irving after that ancient Ludo game he and Tom did together. What an amazing personality! Would love to spend an afternoon in the pub with that guy

Wow! Best park bench ever! Dr. Finkel is brilliant!

That Irving chap is quite the character.

Dr Irving is so smart and witty that I find him as a future version of Tom. I don't know why but he is truly brilliant and very Tom like.

That was a really interesting explanation of the strange script, and Irving seems a proper nice bloke. I'll be sure to check out the kickstarter.

The 'cuneiform' on the jug lug, reminds me of when potters rough up two surfaces of wet clay that are to be joined. Nowadays a potter would hold a sharpened stick, like a pen, and scratch both surfaces up then press the two parts together. If the potter who made that jug we used to writing cuneiform, it wouldn't be a huge stretch to think that they picked up a stylus and made cuneiform strokes to roughen the clay. If the two parts were not joined properly, there could have been an air pocket containing the strokes, left undeformed.

I absolutely loved this. I wish all my teachers would have been like Dr Irving Finkel back in school. I would have aced every test.

Funny, I picked up somewhere that Ma'at was an Egyptian goddess of truth and knowledge

People like Dr. Irving Finkel are invaluable.

I honestly demand to see more of Dr Irving, it's just so mesmerizing to listen to him

I start studying History and Linguistics at University today. This video has really pumped me up! I really hope I get to meet Dr Finkel some day.

I think that the Park bench is the only "location" someone talks about Snapchat Spectacles AND Cuneiform... xD

ma-at and ta-am, you know you're best friends if your names are cuneiform palindromes

It makes me so happy to see Irving taking such joy in other people appreciating his work

I desperately need to know how to write Irving Finkel in cuneiform. It would be so cool if he signed some important official document for the British museum in cuneiform!

Hi I'm Matt, I'm Tom and Heres Dumbledore

Dr. Finkel is an amazing Gentleman...never fails to blow my mind. Thank you Sir!!!!

My Latin teacher used to have a cuneiform tablet he had made in college, but one of the freshman who took his class broke it last school year

This was incredibly fascinating... definitely renewing my old interest/passion for ancient history.

Dr. Irving Finkel is so cool omg!! Please make more collab videos with him Tom!

I am SO happy that Dr Finkel is in this video! I loved watching him in the Royal Ur video.

I love how he has to explain what reliably sunny days feels like, only in Britain.

16:14 - "Are you sure this is the right way?" "I'm just following the sat-nav, Doreen."

This video inspired me to start writing cuneiform, which launched me into working with clay in general. Thank you Matt and Tom!

This is now my favorite episode of ma-at and ta-am

Irving is an absolute joy to learn from. He always makes the topics captivating.

I love this man

It looks like this is really helping out Dr. Finkle's kickstarter - six new pledges in the last 10 minutes or so.

Ooh! Thanks. Irving is a great person!

Please for the love of god, more of Dr Irving Finkel! He's such an interesting person with such interesting stories and information.

He looks like the embodiment of history

Saruman teaches Matt and Tom how to write in an ancient script

How lucky you are guys, i hope you really appreciate this once in a lifetime opportunity 😊

One of the BEST videos on this channel!!

Fascinating. Glad I didn’t interrupt filming that day.

Irving is lovely. I'm ready to study Cuneiform just to meet the guy

What a brilliant man! Have backed the Kickstarter for what sounds like a fantastic story, very excited!

I always love a 'Bench', but this one is my new favourite! What a fantastic gentleman Dr Finkel is.

dr irving has impressively good hands for his age

To quote Citation Needed: Today's episode is sponsored by the word "Cuneiform"

Thank you Tom and Matt for this video! It heightened my curiosity to go purchase that book on Cuneiform.

Dr Irving is absolutely wonderful. So great to see him again.

"It's a syllabary... like kanji" There are three Japanese writing systems, that's the only one that isn't

Make. The. T-shirt.

dr. Finkel, youre a blast to watch! XD

Awesome video, I'm off to watch the UR one now (please do more with this brilliant man!)

I get the impression this guy writes his shopping list in Sumerian

3:33 - kanji is pictoral, not syballic. you were probably thinking of something like hiragana

What an absolutely delightful gentleman. I would love to see more stuff with Dr. Finkel.

So happy to see you both together with Irving! 💕

That was actually far more interesting than I thought it was going to be. I love learning about things that are very far removed from modern life.

So how long until we can get that cuneiform chart on a t-shirt? I will actually buy one to wear to work.

This is so fascinating! Thank you for sharing it with us. Love Dr. Irving Finkel so much.

Love this guy, brilliant teacher.

Is it just me or does Dr Finkel look kinda like Charles Darwin?

Aww. Pity the cuneiform sheet isn't in the description

What an absolute delight. I could listen to him talk for hours. And I may just.

Irving always brightens my day :D make sure to do a lot with him to share him with the world.

I have his book, so awesome! And I would love to learn Cuneiform. BTW I was looking for Cuneiform from the 31st - 26th Century BC, if anyone has copies please let me know.

will you be writing any washing-bills once you've learned cuneiform?

I just love listening to Dr. Finkel and i feel so relieved that Tom has almost the same questions and quandries as I have❤❤ it's as if I'm with Irving

I love the energy coming off him. He was so prepared and excited.