Chaldean Inscription, c. 500 CE

“A discovery relating to the Jews of the captivity in Babylon, and consequently of great interest to Oriental scholars, and especially to biblical students, was made by Mr. Layard during his second expedition to Assyria. Amongst the various curious objects found on the banks of the Euphrates, and in the ruins of ancient Babylonia, were several bowls or cups of terracotta, round the inner surface of which were inscriptions in the ancient Chaldaean language, written in characters wholly unknown, and, I believe, never before seen in Europe. The letters appear to be an admixture of the Syriac and Palmyrine.”

Austen Henry Layard. Discoveries among the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon. New York- G.P. Putnam & co., 1853.