Archaeological Data On The First Written In Hebrew

This is to situate the emergence of the first written in Hebrew, and the time of the literacy of the population of Judah and the kingdom of Israel.

Background

Many proto-Sinaitic inscriptions have been found to Serabit el-Khadem , whose precise dating - Middle Kingdom or Second Intermediate Period of Egypt - are still under discussion and which decryption still poses many problems . He seems to have been created, to transcribe their own language, by workmen Bedouins one or more speaking Semitic languages and work towards -1700 in the mines of turquoise Egyptian Sinai.

A famous type cuneiform alphabet, derived from the alphabet but using protocananen Mesopotamian signs, can burn for many clay tablets in Ugarit (Syrian coast, -1300, -1200).

The Phoenician alphabet , later (-1100 to Byblos ), derives also from the linear alphabet protocananen.

-1000 Is after that, Byblos , the Phoenician alphabet diffuse towards the east and south and that little by little, the alphabet Paleo-Hebrew and Aramaic are different .

The Aramaic alphabet is then the origin of the Hebrew square, still in use today, after the abandonment of the Paleo-Hebrew (except by the Samaritans ).

First signs of the use of Hebrew

If the technique of carbon-14 dating , thanks to recent progress, now enables accurate dating , however it is not applicable to the inscriptions engraved on stone, or to inscriptions on pottery, because these Materials include neither the one nor the other carbon in their composition. For this reason, the dating of inscriptions and ostraca is always much more difficult and much less accurate than a dating site, except when the content of the text itself provides a specific date.

The ostrakon Khirbet Qeiyafa , discovered in July 2008 by the team Yosef Garfinkel could, in H. Misgav and Emile Puech to be the oldest known inscription in ancient Hebrew, but this interpretation is disputed . It has been found on the site of Khirbet Qeiyafa , a fortified town Shephelah ("lowlands"), between the highlands to the east and the coastal plain to the west, near Bet Shemesh , in a stratum dated the ^eleventh or ^tenth century (between -1050 and -970, using measures carbon 14). The ostracon itself is not dated. Pottery trapezoidal measure 15 cm by 16.5 cm . and has five lines of text.

Three inscriptions have been found at Tel Rehov ^(tenth and ^ninth centuries) .

Neither the Gezer Calendar (registration lithographic -1000) or the ABC of Zayit (-1000) are only attested traces of the use of Hebrew.

This is not ^the tenth century but only two centuries later that appear, in the Jerusalem area, signs of widespread use of writing. A series of studies shows clearly for the introduction of writing see Jamieson-Drake , to see the writing on ostraca Sass and Renz , for printing of the stamps show Avigad and Sass . None of this is two centuries earlier in the Jerusalem of Solomon.

The number of ostraca (fragments of material on which it was written or drawn) found in Judah is increasing dramatically, suddenly, from -800: this is the sudden growth that attests unambiguously that the population of the kingdom Judah learned to read Hebrew from -800. In the kingdom of Israel in Samaria , they found many ostraca showing that there is already a strong bureaucracy under Omrides (-900), with widespread use of writing. In addition, omrides jars of wine and olive oil provide information concerning the origin of products, designed to be read by all those who use them. Archaeology shows and the Kingdom of Israel literacy learner a century before the kingdom of Judah. According to Monica Rector "The alphabetic characters on other systems have the advantage of not only appeal to a small number of signs seems to be the stele from Tel Dan , back to 1000 BC (his writing in Aramaic is derived from the Phoenician). The first biblical texts (in Aramaic) that were found are dated -300 (the manuscripts from the Dead Sea range between -300 to +100).

Function of the Hebrew script under Hezekiah

Under Hezekiah (-727, -698), however, the proto-Hebrew inscription engraved in the tunnel of Siloam clearly confirms that the population of Jerusalem is so literate. Intended to be read, this commemorative inscription is written in order to provide information to readers, it demonstrates the role that is assigned now to the writing and the importance we give it. Previously, the memorial stones that are found in abundance in all big cultures all have a highly laudatory narrative style, we do understand that if we know that then assigned to write a function magic. This feature is attested in Egypt by the same name schools that form the scribes is in the School of life (in the House of Life) that the scribes learn, through the magic of writing, creating envelopes Virtual able to receive life . The digging of the tunnel of Siloam, technological tour de force is mentioned in the Bible (Hezekiah "built the pool and the canal to bring water to the City 2R 20:20): This now leaves written evidence and the biblical stories will now have a clear historical basis, even if they arrange some facts. This is not the case when the Bible writers describe a mythical past without accurate historical foundation.

Comparison with other cultures of the Middle East

In comparison to the great kingdoms, we have a large number of Sumerian tablets prior to -3000 (Archives of Uruk ) and Egyptian papyri prior to -2500 (archives of the Houses of Life). In recent bronze, that is to say, for the period preceding the first Israelite, there are diplomatic correspondence and private papers (as in Ugarit , for example). Under Akhenaten (-1350) or Ramses II (-1250), the Kings maintain them throughout the Middle East, a regular correspondence ( of Amarna Letters ), in which all monarchs of a certain size are regularly mentioned. Archaeology shows that the kingdom of Judah is very late compared to all the great kingdoms that surround it. The absence of any trace of writing dated to the kingdom of Solomon is particularly striking: see, on this, archaeological data on David and Solomon.

The Search Continues

New discoveries such as The ostrakon Khirbet Qeiyafa in July 2008 will undoubtedly improve our knowledge on the emergence of Hebrew.

Notes

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