Approximately 4,000 years ago, a Mesopotamian man named Nanni was so disappointed with the copper he received from a merchant named Ea-nasir that he expressed his dissatisfaction through an official complaint, engraving his grievances on a clay tablet. Today, this Bronze Age clay tablet is considered the oldest known customer complaint, and Nanni's complaint is the oldest and harshest among these records.

The history of writing is inextricably intertwined with the history of commerce, as evidenced by Nanni's formal complaint. Some of the oldest surviving written documents from ancient Mesopotamia are inventory records and accounting books, reflecting the meticulous record-keeping practices of merchants like Ea-nasir.

Since copper is the primary material in the alloy that gave the Bronze Age its name, commercial transactions related to this resource sometimes heated up, creating tensions between merchants. In ancient Mesopotamia, customers like Nanni struggled to express dissatisfaction with their orders, as there was no customer service line and no emotionless AI bot to listen to complaints.

The complaint text was translated from the Akkadian language by Assyriologist Adolf Leo Oppenheim and included in the book "Letters from Mesopotamia," published in 1967. Nanni's only option to express his dissatisfaction was to engrave his complaint on a clay tablet and send it to the seller, Ea-nasir, via messenger.

Nanni's complaint, written on a small clay tablet measuring 11.6 by 5 centimeters (4.6 by 2 inches), was clear and direct. He wrote, "The copper ingots are of poor quality. You set them before my messenger and said, 'If you want them, take them; if you don't want them, go to hell.'" The complaint covers both sides of the tablet.

It appears that Nanni had previously given money in advance to Ea-nasir for an agreed amount of copper but later realized this wasn't a wise move. Nanni wrote further, "Is there anyone among the merchants who trade with Tilmun who has treated me in such a way? Only you treat my messenger with contempt!" He continued, "I sent messengers, lords like ourselves, to collect the bag with my money deposited with you, but you treated me with contempt by sending them back to me empty-handed several times."

During 20th century excavations in the city of Ur in modern Iraq, Nanni's clay tablet was found alongside many others addressed to Ea-nasir, including numerous complaint documents discovered in Ea-nasir's house.

"Tilmun was an important source or trading point that supplied hundreds of kilograms of copper to southern Mesopotamia in the third millennium BCE," according to the records. By 1750 BCE, when Nanni wrote his complaint letter, Tilmun copper was already in decline, and products from the Magan region began to take its place.

If Ea-nasir was indeed a malicious merchant, perhaps the reason was the dwindling supply chain, likely due to his supplier's diminishing inventory. Nanni ended his letter with the words, "Now it's up to you to return my money in full. Know this, from now on, I will not accept any copper from you that is not of good quality here. From now on, I will select the ingots one by one in my yard."

Despite being a poor copper merchant, Ea-nasir was a meticulous record keeper and seems to have angered more than a handful of his customers.

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Israeli archaeologists have announced a groundbreaking discovery – the remains of what is believed to be the oldest shipwreck found in deep waters. Hundreds of intact amphorae, ancient storage jars dating back approximately 3,300 years, were discovered 90 kilometers (56 miles) off the northern coast of Israel, resting at a depth of 1,800 meters (5,905 feet) on the seabed.

"This is both the first and the oldest ship found in the Eastern Mediterranean deep sea, ninety kilometers from the nearest shore. This is a world-class history-changing discovery: This find reveals to us as never before the ancient mariners' navigational skills," said Jacob Sharvit, head of the Israel Antiquities Authority's (IAA) marine unit, noting that it challenges previous academic assumptions that trade during the late Bronze Age was conducted by hugging coastlines within sight of land. "From this geographical point, only the horizon is visible all around. To navigate they probably used the celestial bodies, by taking sightings and angles of the sun and star positions." The IAA believes the ship likely sank due to a storm or pirate attack.

The wreck was initially spotted by submersible robots belonging to the oil and gas company Energean, during a routine survey for potential new energy sources off the Israeli coast. Dr. Karnit Bahartan Head of the Environmental Staff at Energean stated, "Cameras picked up what seemed to be a large pile of jugs heaped on the seafloor."

Due to the immense significance of this discovery, Energean assembled a team that collaborated closely with experts from the Israel Antiquities Authority to meticulously examine the shipwreck. They utilized their "Energean Star" vessel, equipped for deep-sea operations. The company's technicians devised a unique and intricate plan, even constructing a specialized tool to extract artifacts while minimizing the risk of damage to the entire assemblage. Over the course of two days at sea, the Energean team retrieved two vessels, each from opposite ends of the ship, to minimize disturbances to the intact assemblage of the boat and its cargo.

The two amphorae are believed to have been used by the Canaanite people who inhabited an area stretching from modern-day Turkey to Egypt. "The vessel type identified in the cargo was designed as the most efficient means of transporting relatively cheap and mass-produced products such as oil, wine, and other agricultural products such as fruit. Finding such a great quantity of amphorae on board one single ship is testimony to significant commercial ties between their country of origin and the ancient Near Eastern lands on the Mediterranean coast," says Sharvit.

The discovered jars are expected to be displayed at the National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel in Jerusalem this summer.

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The city, which dates back to the Early Bronze Age (the end of the fourth millennium BCE), was surrounded by walls and included residential and public areas, streets and alleyways. It had an area of 650 dunams (0.25 square miles) and was home to an estimated 6,000 residents.

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The Bronze Age metropolis was constructed on the remains of an even earlier city that dates back 7,000 years to the Chalcolithic Period. Two natural springs located nearby apparently served as the impetus to build planned communities on the site.

Some 5,000 teens and volunteers took part in the excavation under the auspices of an IAA project designed to instill an emotional connection to Israel's ancient heritage and a sense of belonging in the younger generations, as well as awareness of the importance of archaeological preservation.

IAA archaeologists Itai Elad, Dr. Yitzhak Paz, and Dr. Dina Shalem, who directed the dig, said there was "no doubt" that the findings would dramatically change what researchers knew about the Early Bronze Age and the beginnings of urbanization in Canaan.

"This was an exciting time in the history of the land, which was then Canaan, and whose populations underwent changes that changed the face of [the land] entirely. The rural population gave way to a complex society, most of whom lived in urban settings," the archaeologists said.

Video: Israel Antiquities Authority

"These were the first steps the Canaanite culture took in the land of Israel, which took on its own character in the urban sites it founded. … A city like this could not have arisen without someone to plan it and an administrative mechanism that was responsible for its construction. The impressive planning and the fact that tools imported to [Canaan] from Egypt and seals have been discovered at the site are testimony of that.

'There was an enormous city here – a megalopolis in Early Bronze Age terms, where thousands of people lived, making a living from agriculture and who traded with other regions and even other cultures and kingdoms in the area."

Discoveries at the ancient city include an unusually large temple that features a giant stone basin used in religious rites and an altar on which burned animal bones were unearthed, proof of animal sacrifices. The dig also turned up rare idols, including one of a human head.

The surprising discoveries allow researchers to characterize the culture of the peoples who lived in the area in earlier times. The nearby springs and open spaces facilitated agriculture. The remains of the homes and public structures indicate an organized society with a clear hierarchy.

Like so many archaeological discoveries, the city was unearthed as part of the preliminary infrastructure work – in this case, preparations to construct a new highway interchange providing an exit to the newly-developed city Harish, funded by the Israel National Roads Company Ltd.

Confronted with an unexpected ancient "New York," Israel National Roads has changed its plans for the highway and will build an overpass over the site to allow the city to be preserved in situ so researchers can continue to delve into its secrets.

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