ICEJ News, 11 Jul 2013

Archeologists discover ancient Canaanite inscription in Jerusalem

Hebrew University of Jerusalem archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar announced this week that she has found the earliest alphabetical written text ever uncovered in the Jewish State’s nearly 4,000 year-old capital city. The discovery was made of a neckless ceramic jar found with six others at the Ophel excavation site near the Temple Mount, with one of the pithos engraved with words in the ancient Canaanite language. Preliminary estimates are that the inscription is from the 10th Century BC and predates the earliest known Hebrew inscriptions by 250 years. A more extensive announcement including details and photographs will be made in an upcoming academic paper.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the paper will be co-authored by Dr. Mazar, Prof. Shmuel Ahituv of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and Dr. David Ben-Shlomo of the Hebrew University.

Further north in the Galilee, archeologists have made another archeological discovery, fragments of a statue of the toes and lower feet of an Egyptian Sphinx linked to a pharaoh known for his pyramid construction.

The find was made this week at the archeological site at Tel Hazor, north of Tiberias, by a team from the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University, led by Prof. Amnon Ben-Tor and Dr. Sharon Zuckerman. They discovered the statue fragments in a layer of the site which includes remnants of a city which was destroyed in the 13th Century BC. It includes a hieroglyphic inscription mentioning the name of Mycerinus, who oversaw construction of one of the great pyramids in Giza.

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