Greatest discoveries...?

Question

One of the greatest discoveries in history was a stone discovered somewhere by someone. Without this dicovery, the ancient Egyptian civilization would have been unknown till today:

1. What is the stone called.

2. Where was it dicovered?

3. Who discovered the stone?

4. How could the stone help in our knowledge of ancient Egypt?

PS: Serious people only. People who are aggressive and use foul language, please abstain!

Answer 1

You may be referring to the Rosetta Stone, discovered by a soldier in Napoleon's army in 1799, near the Rosetta mouth of the Nile River.

The Rosetta Stone was important because it provided the basis for translation of Egyptian hieroglyphs, which in turn allowed Egyptologists to gain valuable knowledge about the life of ancient Egyptians. On the stone is carved a decree by Egyptian priests, in three different languages -- Egyptian hieroglyphic, Demotic (popular language of ancient Egypt), and Greek. Since scholars knew how to read ancient Greek they were able to translate the other two writings.

The Rosetta Stone is now in the possession of the British Museum.

Answer 2

1. The Rosetta Stone

2. Discovered in Egypt near the Pyramids

3. A Lieutenant from the French Legion - a Napoleonic Army

4. It translated Heiroglyphs into ancient Greek and Persian.

Answer 3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone

Perhaps the Rosetta Stone...