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Thesoutheastern Iberian script, also known asMeridional Iberian, was one of the means of written expression for theIberian language, which was primarily written in thenortheastern Iberian script and, to a lesser extent, by theGreco-Iberian alphabet. In understanding the relationship between the northeastern and southeastern Iberian scripts, some[who?] note that they are two distinct scripts with different values assigned to the same signs.[citation needed] However, they share a common origin, and the most widely accepted hypothesis is that the northeastern Iberian script was derived from the southeastern Iberian script.
In fact, the southeastern Iberian script is very similar to theSouthwestern script, which is used to represent an unknown language typically referred to asTartessian, both in terms of the shape of the signs and their values. The main difference is that the southeastern Iberian script does not exhibit the vocalic redundancy found in the syllabic signs of the northeastern Iberian script.
Unlike thenortheastern Iberian script, the decipherment of the southeastern Iberian script is not yet complete, as there are a significant number of signs on which scholars have not yet reached a consensus. Although it is believed that the southeastern Iberian script does not have a system to differentiate betweenvoiced andunvoicedocclusives, a recent paper (Ferrer i Jané 2010) argues for the existence of a dual system in the southeastern Iberian script as well.
All thePaleohispanic scripts, with the exception of theGreco-Iberian alphabet, share a common distinctive typological characteristic: they represent syllabic values for theocclusives and monophonemic values for the otherconsonants andvowels. From the perspective ofwriting systems, they are neitheralphabets norsyllabaries; rather, they are mixed scripts that are typically identified assemi-syllabaries. There is no consensus on how thePaleohispanic scripts originated; some researchers conclude that their origin is linked solely to thePhoenician alphabet, while others believe that theGreek alphabet also exerted some influence.
The inscriptions that use the southeastern Iberian script have been found primarily in the southeastern quadrant of theIberian Peninsula, including easternAndalusia,Murcia,Albacete,Alicante, andValencia. These inscriptions were made on various types of objects, such assilver andbronze coins, silver andceramic vessels,lead plaques, stones, and more. However, they number around 50, representing only about 2% of the total finds. Among them are the lead plaque from Gador (Almería) and the lead plaque from La Bastida de les Alcuses (Moixent,Valencia). The inscriptions in this script almost always follow a right-to-left direction of writing. The oldest inscriptions in the southeastern Iberian script date to the 4th century BCE, while the most recent ones date from the end of the 2nd century BCE.
