OT name found on 3,000-year-old jar in Israel :

A rare inscription from the time of King David was discovered at Khirbet Qeiyafain the Valley of Elah. A ceramic jar c. 3,000 years old that was broken into numerous sherds was discovered in 2012 in excavations carried out there by Prof. Yosef Garfinkel of the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University and Saar Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Letters written in ancient Canaanite script could be discerned on several of the sherds, sparking the curiosity of researchers [Credit: Tal Rogovsky/IAA]

According to Professor Yosef Garfinkel of the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University and Saar Ganor of the IAA, "This is the first time that the name Eshba'al has appeared on an ancient inscription in the country. Eshba'al Ben Shaul, who ruled over Israel at the same time as David, is known from the Bible. Eshba'al was murdered by assassins and decapitated and his head was brought to David in Hebron (II Samuel, Chaps. 3-4). It is interesting to note that the name Eshba'al appears in the Bible, and now also in the archaeological record, only during the reign of King David, in the first half of the tenth century BCE. This name was not used later in the First Temple period. The correlation between the biblical tradition and the archaeological finds indicates this was a common name only during that period. The name Beda' is unique and does not occur in ancient inscriptions or in the biblical tradition."

Read more at: archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.jp...
Follow us: @ArchaeoNewsNet on Twitter | groups/thearchaeologynewsnetwork/ on Facebook

According to the article Eshba'al under went a name change, I guess to place distance between him and Canaanite roots to Ish-Bashat, he was also assassinated and his head bought back to King David..Oh my!! how very gangsta.

Interesting. Without knowing how common that name was at the time, however, it's impossible to say that this was, in fact, the same person described in the Old Testament. Interesting find, though.
S&F

Wow. That's really intense.
If I had my youth to do over, I would be an anthropologist/archaeologist. Thanks for posting.
S/F

originally posted by: BuzzyWigs
Wow. That's really intense.
If I had my youth to do over, I would be an anthropologist/archaeologist. Thanks for posting.
S/F

Who says it's too late? Come on we'll go together.

a reply to: Rosinitiate

It's never too late! I'll go too!

originally posted by: admirethedistance
a reply to: Rosinitiate

It's never too late! I'll go too!

ATS kickstarter campaign!

Come on Skeptic raise us some money.

a reply to: Rosinitiate

Er, I don't see that happening...There are, however, plenty of grant/scholarship/loan programs available...A quick go at crowdfunding never hurt either lol.

Edit: We would, of course, all have to be given honorary 'scholar' titles, though...

a reply to: Spider879

I don't trust Israeli archeology

6 months ago Netanyahu claimed Jesus spoke Hebrew, and had to be corrected by Pope Francis. Jesus spoke Aramaic.

a reply to: PredatorCrackling

What does that have to do with Israeli archaeology? Netanyahu isn't an archaeologist.

a reply to: PredatorCrackling

Everyone has an agenda, including some archaeologists, but I see no reason to distrust an archaeologist and discredit their discoveries simply because of their nationality.

I found this bit at the wiki entry .

Khirbet Qeiyafa inscription[edit]

Artist's rendition of the ostracon
A 15-by-16.5-centimetre (5.9 in × 6.5 in) ostracon, a trapezoid-shaped potsherd with five lines of text,[28] was discovered during excavations at the site in 2008.[28]
Although the writing on the ostracon is poorly preserved and difficult to read, Émile Puech of the École Biblique et Archéologique Française proposed that it be read:
1 Do not oppress, and serve God … despoiled him/her
2 The judge and the widow wept; he had the power
3 over the resident alien and the child, he eliminated them together
4 The men and the chiefs/officers have established a king
5 He marked 60 [?] servants among the communities/habitations/generations
and understood the ostracon as a locally written copy of a message from the capital informing a local official of the ascent of Saul to the throne.[29] Puech considered the language to be Canaanite or Hebrew without Philistine influence.[30]
Gershon Galil of Haifa University proposed the following translation:
1 you shall not do [it], but worship (the god) [El]
2 Judge the sla[ve] and the wid[ow] / Judge the orph[an]
3 [and] the stranger. [Pl]ead for the infant / plead for the po[or and]
4 the widow. Rehabilitate [the poor] at the hands of the king
5 Protect the po[or and] the slave / [supp]ort the stranger.[28]
On January 10, 2010, the University of Haifa issued a press release stating that the text was a social statement relating to slaves, widows and orphans. According to this interpretation, the text "uses verbs that were characteristic of Hebrew, such as asah ("did") and `avad ("worked"), which were rarely used in other regional languages. Particular words that appear in the text, such as almanah ("widow") are specific to Hebrew and are written differently in other local languages. The content itself, it is argued, was also unfamiliar to all the cultures in the region besides that of Hebrew society. It was further maintained that the present inscription yielded social elements similar to those found in the biblical prophecies markedly different from those current in by other cultures that write of the glorification of the gods and taking care of their physical needs."[28][31] Gershon Galil claims that the language of inscription is Hebrew and that 8 out of 18 words written on inscription are exclusively biblical. He also claimed that 30 major archeological scholars do support this thesis.[32]
Other readings are possible, however, and the official excavation report presented many possible reconstructions of the letters without attempting a translation.[33] The inscription is written left to right in a script which is probably Early Alphabetic/Proto Phoenician,[33][34] though Christopher Rollston and Demsky consider that it might be written vertically.[34] Early Alphabetic differs from old Hebrew script and its immediate ancestor.[34] Rollston also disputes the claim that the language is Hebrew, arguing that the words alleged to be indicative of Hebrew either appear in other languages or don't actually appear in the inscription.[34]
Millard believes the language of the inscription is Hebrew, Canaanite, Phoenician or Moabite and it most likely consists of a list of names written by someone unused to writing.[35] Hebrew University archaeologist Amihai Mazar said the inscription was very important, as it is the longest Proto-Canaanite text ever found.[36]
In 2010 the ostracon was placed on display in the Iron Age gallery of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.[31]

en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: Spider879

I think most of their archaeologists are fine but its the israeli propaganda machine trying to make their case for israel being a pure jewish state that is the problem. They are hell bent on matching biblical people and places to their Funnily enough when the Canaanite Pantheon was discovered with Yahweh as one of that pantheon with a goddess wife they preferred to overlook that embarrassing little find. www.patheos.com...

originally posted by: PredatorCrackling

6 months ago Netanyahu claimed Jesus spoke Hebrew, and had to be corrected by Pope Francis. Jesus spoke Aramaic.

What if he spoke both? Jesus was a pretty smart guy.

Not that either of those two clowns would know anyway.

originally posted by: PredatorCrackling
a reply to: Spider879

I don't trust Israeli archeology

6 months ago Netanyahu claimed Jesus spoke Hebrew, and had to be corrected by Pope Francis. Jesus spoke Aramaic.

Its more likely that if he were an actual person that he would have used both. Aramaic in daily life and Hebrew at Temple and other religious occasions as Hebrew is what would have been used then. The term "teacher" which is used to reference him is an analogue for Rabbi. Any Rabbi would have had to know both much like any Catholic up until half a century ago would have used their native tongue during day to day life but Latin at Mass.

originally posted by: admirethedistance
a reply to: PredatorCrackling

Everyone has an agenda, including some archaeologists, but I see no reason to distrust an archaeologist and discredit their discoveries simply because of their nationality.

Playing Devil's advocate, it's not just about the archaeologists nationality is it...he is actively attempting to support Israeli nationalistic assertions and religious claims using this pot...so he does in fact have an agenda quite apart from innocently reporting a find.

originally posted by: admirethedistance
Interesting. Without knowing how common that name was at the time, however, it's impossible to say that this was, in fact, the same person described in the Old Testament. Interesting find, though.
S&F

Yeah no kidding.....It's not like they called him Sam and bible people are saying it is him.....It is only the same name....But I know, I know, the bible is fake.....

I gave you a star for a fascinating archeological find and interesting post. It's nice to see history unfold and speculate on long ago civilizations. It makes us understand our world a bit more to dig into the past.

I then got a headache as I scrolled down and remembered that no matter how much I love ATS, why this can be a tough place to hang out as an innocent thread on archeology devolved into a mildly anti-Semitic bit of thread drifting.
Oh well I suppose around here one takes the good with the bad...nice post.

a reply to: Rosinitiate

I would LOVE that!!