![]() Ancient people in the Kingdom of Judah may have gotten high off weed Ancient 'outlaw temple' discovered in Israel Blue-eyed immigrants transformed ancient Israel 6,500 years ago Other archaeologists, however, suggest there's little evidence (opens in new tab) of the biblical story that the Israelites were led to Canaan by Moses instead, archaeology suggests that at least some of the Israelites originated in the Canaanite lands that became the Israelite kingdoms. ![]() "I think a fair-minded person might be willing to draw the conclusion, inductively, that there were Israelites there." ![]() "We have an ancient text saying that the Israelites arrived around 1400, and then we have evidence of them on a mountain where the Bible says that they were, writing a language that the Bible says that they used," Stripling said. If the date can be verified, the inscription on the curse tablet would push back the earliest-known date for literacy among the ancient Israelites by several hundred years until now, the earliest evidence was the Khirbet Qeiyafa Inscription, dating from about the 10 century B.C., according to researchers at Israel's University of Haifa (opens in new tab).ĪBR describes itself on its website as a nonprofit ministry dedicated to demonstrating the historical reliability of the Bible, and Stripling believes the Mount Ebal curse tablet could be evidence for the biblical story of the ancient Israelites arriving in the region - then called Canaan - from farther east. The newly-found object is the only known example of a "curse tablet" found at the site, although they are common at Jewish sites elsewhere that date from the much later Hellenistic and Roman periods, after about the late fourth century B.C., Stripling said. In a biblical passage, Moses called on one group of Israelite tribes to proclaim curses from Mount Ebal, while another group of ancient Israelite tribes proclaimed blessings from nearby Mount Gerizim. ![]() Related: Ancient 'hangover prevention' ring found in IsraelĪccording to the Book of Deuteronomy in the Hebrew Bible, Mount Ebal was one of the first locations in Canaan seen from afar by the ancient Israelites after they had been led out of an eastern wilderness by Moses. at the very latest, and perhaps as early as 1400 B.C., Stripling said.Īn analysis of the chemical isotopes of the lead used in the tablet shows that it came from a mine in Greece that was active during this period, and the very early proto-alphabetic letters - some of which still have forms derived from earlier pictorial symbols, or hieroglyphs - match the presumed dates. The stratigraphy of the site - in other words, the dates of different layers of earth determined by archaeological excavations - suggest that the tablet dates to around 1200 B.C. Some think the structure may be where the biblical figure Joshua – the successor to Moses as leader of the Israelites – sacrificed animals to God, while others think it is a sacrificial altar from the Iron Age, several hundred years later. This particular sediment pile was likely the cast-off material from excavations of the ancient stone structure called "Joshua's Altar," high on a ridge of the mountain, he said. Stripling and his team found the curse tablet by a process of "wet-sifting" material - that is, washing sediments with water - that had been discarded during archaeological excavations on Mount Ebal in the 1980s. "Cursed, cursed, cursed - cursed by the God Yahweh," the inscription reads, using a three-letter form of the Hebrew name of God that corresponds to the English letters YHW. Related: Evidence of Hanukkah's Maccabee rebellion unearthed in Israelĭetails of the tablet - a piece of folded lead sheet about an inch high and an inch wide (2.5 by 2.5 centimeters) - will be published in an archaeological journal later this year, but the team wanted to make the announcement before news of the object leaked out, Stripling said.įorty proto-alphabetic letters, inscribed in an early form of Hebrew or Canaanite on the outer and inner surfaces of the folded lead tablet, warn what would happen if someone under a covenant - a legally binding agreement - didn't meet their obligations.
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