An exceptional document is the Meridional Iberian inscription on a lead plaque of Moixent (Valencia) (G.7.2). This inscription was found hidden under a millstone in an Iberian site destroyed in the last years of the fourth century B.C. It was written by its two faces, two complete texts and one fragmentary in two (or three) different variants of the Meridional Iberian script

    One of its inscriptions is truly remarkable as it is a database of commercial transactions which only shows a series of entries consisting of a customer name followed by a weight quantity. It's most striking that its first editor Serra-Ràfols found already this correct interpretation in the twenties, when it was impossible to read the Meridional Iberian signs. The text structure was enough for him.

    Every entry shows one personal name, which can be found in more than one entry. There is a suffix after every name: almost always the suffix -ka "to(wards)", whereas two names show in every one of their attestations the problematic sign that I read -ku, maybe as a phonetically conditioned allomorph, but it is also possible that these two persons played a different role (providers?). After the suffixed name it is added the quantity: the well-known initials' series that indicate units of weight: a, o and ki. The quantity of every unit is shown by the quantity of dots that follow. As stated by Serra-Ràfols, the majority of the entries are crossed out, showing the transactions already accomplished.

    This inscription is also important for the deciphering of Meridional Iberian script, since we can identify in it known Iberian personal name bases written in Meridional. Hence a good demonstration of the decipherment.

    The text was written from the right to the left (as usual in Meridional). I transcribe the weight units in capital letters and the quantity as numbers, but the dot count is only rough.

    Picture from Fletcher (1985):

saltulako-ku A KI 6

ber's'ir-ka KI 8 ar'taker'-ka KI 6 koles'tautin-ka KI 7 ber's'ir-ka A O 3 KI 1

biur'taker'-ka KI 1 botoltir'-ka KI 4 saltulako-ku A KI 1 saltulako-ku A O 2

kober'on-ka KI 2 ber's'ir-ka O 3 sakar'bas'-ka KI 3 ber's'ir-ka KI 9 aituar'ki-ku A KI 1

kaniber'on-ka KI 6 biur'iltir'-ka KI 2 sekel-ka KI 6 biur'taker'-ka KI 5 aituar'ki-ku A KI 6