The really cool black stone.

Back in 1786, a French botanist named André Michaux was wandering around Baghdad when he stumbled upon this really cool black stone near the Taq Kasra ruins. It had some pretty odd carvings and writing on it, and Michaux was totally fascinated. He ended up keeping it with him for three and a half years before bringing it back to France.

Now, Michaux was already well-known for his massive collection of plants and seeds, but in 1800, he sold the stone to the French Museum of Antiquities for around 1,200 francs. The museum stored it in the National Library, and it quickly became a talking point among historians all over Europe. It was essentially the first complete written proof of ancient Mesopotamian civilization to make its way to the continent.

This kudurru, which dates back to between 1099 and 1082 B.C. during the reign of Marduk-nadin-ahhe in Babylon, stands about 46 centimeters tall, is 20 centimeters wide, and weighs a solid 22 kilograms. It has 95 lines of text and 21 symbols. In 1861, Henry Rawlinson started working on transcribing it, and Jules Oppert finished the whole translation in 1895. Michaux’s find really changed the game for how Europeans understood Mesopotamian culture.