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Two lines of an alphabet have been found inscribed in a stone in Israel, offering what some scholars say is the most solid evidence yet that the ancient Israelites were literate as early as the 10th century B.C. "This is very rare. This stone will be written about for many years to come," archaeologist Ron E. Tappy, a professor at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary who made the discovery, said Wednesday. "This makes it very historically probable there were people in the 10th century (B.C.) who could write." Christopher Rollston, a professor of Semitic studies at Emmanuel School of Religion in...

Mon, Sep 16 2002 12:39 AM AEST Ancient warrior grave unearthed in Lebanese port Archaeologists have unearthed several Bronze Age graves, including that of an ancient warrior interred with his axe, in the southern Lebanese port city of Sidon. Excavation team director Claude Doumet Serhal said the excavations are "among the most important archaeological projects in Lebanon as they are taking place in the centre of the city of modern Sidon." He also said the warrior's grave dated back to the Middle Bronze Age, around the second millennium BC, and included an unusually well preserved bronze duck-bill axe with a...

Ancient vessel retraces voyages of the past By Stefanos Evripidou IT LOOKS like a tree house stuck on a bamboo banana. In reality it's the incarnation of a pre-Pharaonic reed boat, designed and built to unravel the mysteries of prehistoric navigation. The Abora II drifted in to Larnaca marina yesterday. Weighing in at six- tonnes, the vessel is a totra-reed boat. It is 11.5 metres long, 3.5 metres wide and 1.5 metres deep. The man responsible for building the huge boat is Dominique Goerlitz, a biology teacher at a school in Germany. As a student, Goerlitz was fascinated by the...

Archaeologists unearth Tyre’s Phoenician rootsDig uncovers 12 burial jars Spanish archaeologists discovered a Phoenician cemetery containing 12 jars during excavations in Tyre on Friday, one of them reported. “We have discovered 12 earthenware jars of various sizes, filled with burned up bones and ashes at the southern entrance of Tyre,” Maria Eugenia Aubet told AFP. Aubet said her team “hopes to find gold jewelry under the ashes, which date back to between the ninth and 10th century before Christ.” “The Phoenicians used to bury their dead in jars along with their jewelry after incinerating their bodies,” she said. The team...