July 15, 2026: The Stone That Unlocked a Civilization

Few objects in history have done more business work than a broken slab of rock pulled from a demolition site.On July 15, 1799, French engineer Pierre-François Bouchard uncovered the Rosetta Stone while tearing down a fort wall near the Egyptian port town of Rosetta during Napoleon's campaign to disrupt British trade routes to India. The stone carried the same government decree in three scripts, hieroglyphics, Demotic, and Greek, issued in 196 BCE to confirm the divine rule of King Ptolemy V. It took more than two decades and two rival scholars, England's Thomas Young and France's Jean-François Champollion, before hieroglyphics could be read again, and when Champollion announced his breakthrough in 1822, an entire civilization's worth of tax records, property disputes, and trade agreements became readable for the first time in over a thousand years.From bsnsHistory, the daily podcast about the moments when business quietly reshaped the world.Written and hosted by Ron Trucks. Research and editing by Rodney Russ. Sound design by Angela Cahoy. Music by Cody Martin and Soundstripe.For more daily business stories, visit www.bsnsDAILYpodcasts.com