The Oldest Known Song in the World

The world’s oldest known song is over 3,400 years old and comes from ancient Ugarit, now part of modern-day Syria.

Found inscribed on clay tablets, the music, written in the ancient cuneiform script, was discovered in the 1950s.

The song, known as 'Hurrian Hymn No.

6,' was part of a collection of texts that was preserved on tablets found in the royal palace at Ugarit.

The hymn was decoded by University of California professor Anne Draffkorn Kilmer in the 1970s.

She used a complex process of historical deduction and musical reconstruction based on the ancient Hurrian language, of which very little is known.

The melody, with lyrics in the Hurrian language, is a hymn to the moon god's wife, Nikkal.

Interestingly, despite its age, the melody has a surprisingly familiar, hauntingly beautiful quality..