Chinanews.com, February 25th. According to the BBC, a 230-year-old inscription was found on a rock on the coast of Brittany, France a few years ago, but local scholars cannot understand the mysterious information. A deciphering contest was recently held in the village of Progastre, where the winner claimed that the content of the inscription tells a tragic death.
On the 24th, the two winners shared a prize of 2,000 euros. Brittany Mayor Dominique Cape said their translations were different, but the final story was "very similar." The winners agreed that the inscription was in honor of a deceased person.
Noel Rene Toudic, an English teacher and Celtic language expert, said that the person who carved the inscription was a semi-literate who spoke Brittany in the 18th century. A key part of his translation was: "Serge died of a lack of boating skills and his boat was overturned by the wind."
Another winning historian, Roger Farigert, and artist Alan Robbert said the text was written in Brittany but believed that some of the words were Welsh. Their translation was: "He is the embodiment of courage and joy in life. Somewhere on the island, he was hit and died."
According to reports, the 20-line inscription was discovered a few years ago and was carved on a one-meter-high slate in the Gulf of Brittany and only revealed at low tide.
In addition to the normal French alphabet, there are upside-down letters in the inscription, as well as Scandinavian letters. The years 1786 and 1787, which symbolize the year, are clearly visible, and there is also an image of a ship and a heart inserted on the cross.
Local officials said there were 61 complete translations, most of which came from France, but also works from countries such as the United States and Thailand.
A jury of historians judged the entries, and Cap said that there was still a long way to go to "completely solve the mystery", but the results of the competition "were a big step forward ".