JERUSALEM (CNN) -- An Israeli archaeologist has discovered what he says is the
earliest-known Hebrew text, found on a shard of pottery that dates to the time of
King David from the Old Testament, about 3,000 years ago.
The shard -- or ostracon -- contains five lines of text divided by black lines.
Professor Yosef Garfinkel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem says the
inscribed pottery shard -- known as an ostracon -- was found during excavations of
a fortress from the 10th century BC.
Carbon dating of the ostracon, along with pottery analysis, dates the inscription to
time of King David, about a millennium earlier than the famous Dead Sea Scrolls,
the university said.
The shard contains five lines of text divided by black lines and measures 15 by 15
centimeters, or about 6 inches square.
Archaeologists have yet to decipher the text, but initial interpretation indicates it
formed part of a letter and contains the roots of the words "judge," "slave," and
"king," according to the university. That may indicate it was a legal text, which
archaeologists say would provide insights into Hebrew law, society, and beliefs.
The researchers say the text was clearly written by a trained scribe.
The shard was discovered at the Elah Fortress in Khirbet Qeiyafa, about 20 miles
southwest of Jerusalem. The fortress, measuring 2.3 hectares (about 5.7 acres), is
the earliest-known fortified city of the biblical period in Israel.
Excavations began there in June. So far, just four percent of the site has been
excavated, the university said.
Because the ostracon is similar to that found in other Israelite settlements, and
because no pig bones were found at the site, archaeologists say the site was likely
part of the Kingdom of Judea. Jewish dietary laws forbid the eating of pork.
Among the artifacts found at the site are more than 100 jar handles bearing
distinct impressions which may indicate a link to royal vessels, the university said.
Such a large quantity found in such a small area is "unprecedented," the
university said.
The site of Khirbet Qeiyafa is located near the place where the Bible describes the
battle between David and Goliath -- the Elah Valley, which shares its name with
the fortress.
Garfinkel said it is the only site in Israel in which to investigate King David.
"The chronology and geography of Khirbet Qeiyafa create a unique meeting point
between the mythology, history, historiography and archaeology of King David,"
he said.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are the earliest-known copies of the Bible, some dating back
about 2,000 years.
It is widely believed that the first set of Dead Sea Scrolls was discovered in 1947 by
a Bedouin shepherd who ventured into a cave in the Judean Desert in search of a
lost sheep or goat.
The texts, written on crumbling parchment and papyrus, were found wrapped in
linen inside earthenware jars.
Five lines of ancient script on a shard of pottery could be the oldest example of
Hebrew writing ever discovered, an archaeologist in Israel says.
The shard was found by a teenage volunteer during a dig about 20km (12 miles)
south-west of Jerusalem.
Experts at Hebrew University said dating showed it was written 3,000 years ago -
about 1,000 years earlier than the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Other scientists cautioned that further study was needed to understand it.
Preliminary investigations since the shard was found in July have deciphered some
words, including judge, slave and king.
The characters are written in proto-Canaanite, a precursor of the Hebrew alphabet.
King David
Lead archaeologist Yosef Garfinkel identified it as Hebrew because of a three-letter
verb meaning "to do" which he said was only used in Hebrew.
"That leads us to believe that this is Hebrew, and that this is the oldest Hebrew
inscription that has been found," he said.
The shard and other artefacts were found at the site of Khirbet Qeiyafa,
overlooking the Valley of Elah where the Bible says the Israelite David fought the
Philistine giant Goliath.
Mr Garfinkel said the findings could shed significant light on the period of King
David's reign.
"The chronology and geography of Khirbet Qeiyafa create a unique meeting point
between the mythology, history, historiography and archaeology of King David."
But his colleagues at Hebrew University said the Israelites were not the only ones
using proto-Canaanite characters, therefore making it difficult to prove it was
Hebrew and not a related tongue spoken in the area at the time.
Hebrew University archaeologist Amihai Mazar said the inscription was "very
important", as it is the longest proto-Canaanite text ever found.
"The differentiation between the scripts, and between the languages themselves in
that period, remains unclear," he said.
By Ethan Bronner, Published: October 29, 2008
KHIRBET QEIYAFA,— Overlooking the verdant Valley of Elah, where the Bible
says David toppled Goliath, archaeologists are unearthing a 3,000-year-old
fortified city that could reshape views of the period when David ruled over the
Israelites. Five lines on pottery uncovered here appear to be the oldest Hebrew text
ever found and are likely to have a major impact on knowledge about the history
of literacy and alphabet development.
The five-acre site, with its fortifications, dwellings and multi-chambered entry
gate, will also be a weapon in the contentious and often politicized debate over
whether David and his capital, Jerusalem, were an important kingdom or a minor
tribe, an issue that divides not only scholars but those seeking to support or
delegitimize Zionism.
Only a tiny portion of the site has been excavated, and none of the findings have
yet been published or fully scrutinized. But the dig, led by Yosef Garfinkel of
Hebrew University in Jerusalem, is already causing a stir among his colleagues as
well as excitement from those who seek to use the Bible as a guide to history and
confirmation of their faith.
“This is a new type of site that suddenly opens a window on an area where we
have had almost nothing and requires us to rethink what was going on at that
period,” said Aren M. Maeir, professor of archaeology at Bar-Ilan University and
the director of a major Philistine dig not far from here. “This is not a run-of-the-
mill find.”
The 10th century B.C. is the most controversial period in biblical archaeology
because it is then, according to the Old Testament, that David united the kingdoms
of Judah and Israel, setting the stage for his son Solomon to build his great temple
and rule over a vast area from the Nile to the Euphrates Rivers.
For many Jews and Christians, even those who do not take Scripture literally, the
Bible is a vital historical source. And for the state of Israel, which considers itself
to be a reclamation of the state begun by David, evidence of the biblical account
has huge symbolic value. The Foreign Ministry’s Web site, for example, presents
the kingdom of David and Solomon along with a map of it as a matter of fact.
But the archaeological record of that kingdom is exceedingly sparse — in fact
almost nonexistent — and a number of scholars today argue that the kingdom was
largely a myth created some centuries later. A great power, they note, would have
left traces of cities and activity, and been mentioned by those around it. Yet in this
area nothing like that has turned up — at least until now.
Mr. Garfinkel says he has something here that generations have been seeking. He
has made two informal presentations in the past month to fellow archaeologists.
On Thursday he will give his first formal lecture at a conference in Jerusalem.
What he has found so far has impressed many. Two burned olive pits found at the
site have been tested for carbon-14 at Oxford University and were found to date
from between 1050 and 970 B.C., exactly when most chronologies place David as
king. Two more pits are still to be tested.
A specialist in ancient Semitic languages at Hebrew University, Haggai Misgav,
says the writing, on pottery using charcoal and animal fat for ink, is in so-called
proto-Canaanite script and appears to be a letter or document in Hebrew,
suggesting that literacy may have been more widespread than is generally
assumed. That could play a role in the larger dispute over the Bible, since if more
writing turns up it suggests a means by which events could have been recorded and
passed down several centuries before the Bible was likely to have been written.
Another reason this site holds such promise is that it was in use for only a short
period, perhaps 20 years, and then destroyed — Mr. Garfinkel speculates in a
battle with the Philistines — and abandoned for centuries, sealing the finds in
Pompeii-like uniformity. Most sites are made up of layers of periods and,
inevitably, there is blending, making it hard to date remains accurately.
For example, several years ago the archaeologist Eilat Mazar uncovered in East
Jerusalem a major public building from around the 10th century B.C. that she
attributes to David’s time and was perhaps even, she believes, his palace. While
she found pottery, it was in a fill, not sealed, making it hard to know how to relate
the pottery to the structure.
•
Israeli diggers find Hebrew text in ancient town
The Associated Press
Published: October 30, 2008
HIRBET QEIYAFA, Israel: An Israeli archaeologist digging at a hilltop south of
Jerusalem believes a ceramic shard found in the ruins of an ancient town bears
the oldest Hebrew inscription ever discovered, a find that could provide an
important glimpse into the culture and language of the Holy Land at the time of
the Bible.
The five lines of faded characters written 3,000 years ago, and the ruins of the
fortified settlement where they were found, are indications that a powerful Israelite
kingdom existed at the time of the Old Testament's King David, says Yossi
Garfinkel, the Hebrew University archaeologist in charge of the new dig at Hirbet
Qeiyafa.
Other scholars are hesitant to embrace Garfinkel's interpretation of the finds,
made public on Thursday. The discoveries are already being wielded in a vigorous
and ongoing argument over whether the Bible's account of events and geography
is meant to be taken literally.
Hirbet Qeiyafa sits near the modern Israeli city of Beit Shemesh in the Judean
foothills, an area that was once the frontier between the hill-dwelling Israelites
and their enemies, the coastal Philistines. The site overlooks the Elah Valley, said
to be the scene of the slingshot showdown between David and the Philistine giant
Goliath, and lies near the ruins of Goliath's hometown in the Philistine metropolis
of Gath.
A teenage volunteer found the curved pottery shard, 6 inches by 6 inches (15
centimeters by 15 centimeters), in July near the stairs and stone washtub of an
excavated home. It was later discovered to bear five lines of characters known as
proto-Canaanite, a precursor of the Hebrew alphabet.
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Carbon-14 analysis of burnt olive pits found in the same layer of the site dated
them to between 1,000 and 975 B.C., the same time as the Biblical golden age of
David's rule in Jerusalem.
Scholars have identified other, smaller Hebrew fragments from the 10th century B.
C., but the script, which Garfinkel suggests might be part of a letter, predates the
next significant Hebrew inscription by between 100 and 200 years. History's best-
known Hebrew texts, the Dead Sea scrolls, were penned on parchment beginning
850 years later.
The shard is now kept in a university safe while philologists translate it, a task
expected to take months. But several words have already been tentatively identified,
including ones meaning "judge," "slave" and "king."
The Israelites were not the only ones using proto-Canaanite characters, and other
scholars suggest it is difficult — perhaps impossible — to conclude the text is
Hebrew and not a related tongue spoken in the area at the time. Garfinkel bases
his identification on a three-letter verb from the inscription meaning "to do," a
word he said existed only in Hebrew.
"That leads us to believe that this is Hebrew, and that this is the oldest Hebrew
inscription that has been found," he said.
Other prominent Biblical archaeologists warned against jumping to conclusions.
Hebrew University archaeologist Amihai Mazar said the inscription was "very
important," as it is the longest proto-Canaanite text ever found. But he suggested
that calling the text Hebrew might be going too far.
"It's proto-Canaanite," he said. "The differentiation between the scripts, and
between the languages themselves in that period, remains unclear."
Some scholars and archeologists argue that the Bible's account of David's time
inflates his importance and that of his kingdom, and is essentially myth, perhaps
rooted in a shred of fact.
But if Garfinkel's claim is borne out, it would bolster the case for the Bible's
accuracy by indicating the Israelites could record events as they happened,
transmitting the history that was later written down in the Old Testament several
hundred years later.
It also would mean that the settlement — a fortified town with a 30-foot-wide (10-
meter-wide) monumental gate, a central fortress and a wall running 770 yards
(700 meters) in circumference — was probably inhabited by Israelites.
The finds have not yet established who the residents were, says Aren Maier, a Bar
Ilan University archaeologist who is digging at nearby Gath. It will become more
clear if, for example, evidence of the local diet is found, he said: Excavations have
shown that Philistines ate dogs and pigs, while Israelites did not.
The nature of the ceramic shards found at the site suggest residents might have
been neither Israelites nor Philistines but members of a third, forgotten people, he
said.
If the inscription is Hebrew, it would indicate a connection to the Israelites and
make the text "one of the most important texts, without a doubt, in the corpus of
Hebrew inscriptions," Maier said. But it has great importance whatever the
language turns out to be, he added.
Par David Rosenfeld
Rubrique: Archéologie
Publié le 31 octobre 2008 à 06:27
Un archéologue israélien a découvert la plus ancienne inscription connue en
Hébreu (3000 ans).
Cette découverte de premier plan pourrait indiquer que l’épopée biblique de l’
ancien Royaume israélite de David aurait pu être basée sur des textes écrits. On
pensait jusqu’alors que la Bible avait été unifiée et mise par écrit 2 siècles plus tard.
Un adolescent a découvert un tesson de poterie vieux de 3000 ans et portant 5
lignes de caractères hébraïques, et ce, dans les ruines d’une ancienne ville au sud
de Jérusalem. Il s’agit de la ville de Khirbet Qeiyafa. La relique a été trouvée dans
l’enceinte de la forteresse d’Elah qui est la plus ancienne connue de la période
biblique.
Pour Yossi Garfinkel, l’archéologue israélien en charge de la fouille, cette relique
est la preuve que les anciens Israélites étaient alphabétisés et pouvaient écrire la
chronique des événements plusieurs siècles avant que la Bible ne soit écrite.
Cela donne à penser que certains passages de la Bible ont été écrits sur la base des
traditions orales comme écrites.—
Découverte du plus ancien texte en hébreu jamais mis au jour
Tesson de poterie sur lequel est inscrit le plus ancien texte hébreu jamais
découvert. Pour les archéologues, qui l'ont mis au jour dans la "Forteresse
d'Elah" au sud-ouest de Jérusalem, la datation au carbone des objets trouvés sur
le site indique que l'inscription en hébreu remonterait à quelque 3.000 ans, soit un
millier d'années avant les Manuscrits de la Mer morte. /Photo prise le 30 octobre
2008/REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Des archéologues ont annoncé jeudi avoir mis au jour le plus ancien texte en
hébreu lors de fouilles effectuées dans une ville fortifiée dominant la vallée où,
selon la Bible, David a vaincu Goliath.
Cette découverte, dans une vallée située à une vingtaine de km au sud-ouest de
Jérusalem et qui abrite aujourd'hui des vignes ainsi qu'une station satellite
israélienne, pourrait avoir des implications sur le débat, politiquement sensible et
chargé d'émotion, sur l'avenir de Jérusalem.
Les spécialistes n'ont pas encore réussi à déchiffrer la totalité des cinq lignes du
texte rédigé avec une encre noire sur un tesson de poterie déterré sur un site
archéologique appelé "Forteresse d'Elah" ou "Khirbet Qeiyafa".
Pour les archéologues de l'Université hébraïque de Jérusalem, la datation au
carbone des objets trouvés sur le site indique que l'inscription en hébreu
remonterait à quelque 3.000 ans, soit un millier d'années avant les Manuscrits de
la Mer morte.
Les experts, qui sont parvenus à déchiffrer quelques mots comme "juge",
"esclave" et "roi", espèrent que le texte permettra de comprendre comment ces
caractères en hébreu ont été forgés.
LIEN BIBLIQUE
D'après les archéologues, d'autres objets mis au jour lors des fouilles de la
forteresse donnent à penser qu'il existait très probablement un roi et un
gouvernement central forts à Jérusalem pendant la période durant laquelle les
historiens pensent que David a régné sur la Ville sainte et l'Israël biblique.
L'Etat moderne d'Israël invoque souvent un lien biblique entre David et Jérusalem
pour justifier sa revendication, non reconnue par la communauté internationale,
de Jérusalem, "capitale une et éternelle" de l'Etat juif.
Pour les Palestiniens, qui affirment que les revendications remontant à la Bible
sont dépassées par la présence de longue date de la population arabe dans cette
ville, la partie orientale de Jérusalem, conquise lors de la guerre de 1967, doit être
la capitale du futur Etat palestinien indépendant comprenant la Cisjordanie et la
bande de Gaza.
L'architecte en chef de ces fouilles, Yosef Garfinkel, estime que cette découverte
éclaire de manière significative la période de la domination du roi David sur les
Israélites.
Selon lui, "la chronologie et la géographie de Khirbet Qeiyafa constituent un
carrefour unique entre la mythologie, l'histoire, l'historiographie et l'archéologie
du roi David".
Version française Jean-Loup Fievet
Une inscription remontant à trois millénaires découverte en Israël
Des archéologues israéliens annoncent avoir découvert à l'ouest de Jérusalem une
inscription rarissime remontant à trois millénaires, sur le site d'une forteresse
située à la frontière du royaume de Judée.
L'inscription en cinq lignes, très difficiles à déchiffrer, est écrite sur une poterie en
proto-cananéen, la langue qui servait aussi bien aux Hébreux qu'aux Philistins et
autres peuples de la région.
Elle a été découverte cet été, lors des fouilles du site de la forteresse antique
d'Elah, située à une quarantaine de kilomètres à l'ouest de Jérusalem dans la
vallée d'Elah, où selon le récit biblique David a combattu Goliath.
Le professeur Yosef Garfinkel, de l'université hébraïque de Jérusalem, responsable
de la fouille, a annoncé dans un communiqué que la datation au carbone 14 avait
permis de faire remonter cette inscription au Xème siècle avant JC, soit 1.000 ans
avant les rouleaux de la mer Morte.
Selon lui, la forteresse était un avant-poste du royaume de Judée et le texte en
hébreu ancien.
L'archéologue réputé Israël Finkelstein, auteur du best-seller La Bible dévoilée,
estime cependant qu'il est prématuré de tirer de telles conclusions. «Il s'agit sans
nul doute d'une importante découverte. Mais il faut noter qu'on a trouvé dans la
même région des inscriptions philistines de même type, de sorte qu'il faut attendre
que le texte soit décrypté pour en déduire l'origine.»
(Source AFP)
Israël: un texte vieux de 3000 ans a été découvert
Jérusalem - Des archéologues israéliens ont annoncé avoir mis au jour une
inscription rarissime remontant à trois millénaires sur le site d'une forteresse
située à la frontière du royaume de Judée. Il s'agit du plus ancien texte en hébreu.
L'inscription en cinq lignes est écrite sur une poterie en proto-cananéen, la langue
qui servait aussi bien aux Hébreux qu'aux Philistins et autres peuples de la région.
Elle a été découverte cet été, lors des fouilles du site de la forteresse antique d'Elah
(ou "Kirbeth Qeiyafa"), située à 40 km à l'ouest de Jérusalem où, selon le récit
biblique David, a combattu Goliath.
Pour les archéologues de l'Université hébraïque de Jérusalem, la datation au
carbone des objets trouvés sur le site indique que l'inscription remonterait à 3000
ans, soit un millier d'années avant les Manuscrits de la Mer morte. Les experts
sont parvenus à déchiffrer quelques mots comme "Juge", "esclave" et "roi".
Cette découverte pourrait avoir des implications sur le débat, politiquement
sensible, sur l'avenir de Jérusalem. D'après les archéologues, d'autres objets mis
au jour lors des fouilles de la forteresse donnent à penser qu'il existait très
probablement un roi et un gouvernement central forts à Jérusalem pendant la
période durant laquelle le roi David a régné sur Israël.
L'Etat moderne d'Israël invoque souvent un lien biblique entre David et Jérusalem
pour justifier sa revendication, non reconnue par la communauté internationale,
de Jérusalem, "capitale une et éternelle" de l'Etat juif.
Khirbet Qeiyafa