Iris Donnetta Baker, age 17, of Indianapolis, Ind., for her question:

WHAT IS THE ROSETTA STONE?

The key to the long forgotten language of ancient Egypt was discovered when a French officer in Napoleon's engineering corps found a half buried stone in the mud near the Rosetta mouth of the Nile River in 1799. Called the Rosetta Stone, it was later taken to England where it still can be found in the British Museum.

On the Rosetta Stone is carved a decree to commemorate the crowning of Ptolemy V Epiphance, king of Egypt from 203 to 181 B.C. The inscription is carved in three languages: the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, the popular language of Egypt called Demotic and in Greek.

The stone is about three feet, nine inches high and about two feet, five inches across. Made of black basalt, it is 11 inches thick. Part of the top and a section of the right side are missing.