Posted on 10/30/2008 5:07:10 AM PDT by SJackson
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 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 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at jpost.com ...
These stories fascinate me. Thanks for posting! <3
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
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Had the Wakf found it, the shard would be in the garbage.
I’d think the tablets of Moses would be older, although placed in the Arc and secreted away, they remain hidden today.
The missing words: DO NOT judge your KING or you'll be a SLAVE............
What harm is there in this kind of motivation? A lot more stuff ends up getting discovered, and the archaeological community as a whole can sort out the significance of the discoveries.
Considering the state of newspapers he should revise that.
ggg ping
GGG alert
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Ping ibri sheni.
I follow this stuff religiously (sorry could not resist). A magazine I subscribe to has Finkelstein and quite a few archaeologist in the Holy Land in it very frequently. Quite a few of them trash the Bible and sometimes believers (whether they are Christian or Jewish).
A few years ago, they published an article that lamented the fact that the interest in Biblical archeology is waning. What they were really lamenting was that the funding for their research was waning because they were trashing people's beliefs. Most believers want to hear about the Biblical lands in context to scripture. These guys set out to destroy scripture and wonder why nobody wants to hear about their radical views on Biblical lands.
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