Archaeologists report finding oldest Hebrew text

Archaeologists report finding oldest Hebrew text

www.reuters.com

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Archaeologists in Israel said on Thursday they had unearthed the oldest Hebrew text ever found, while excavating a fortress city overlooking a valley where the Bible says David slew Goliath.

Experts have not yet been able to decipher fully the five lines of text written in black ink on a shard of pottery dug up at a five-acre (two-hectare) archaeological site called Elah Fortress, or Khirbet Qeiyafa.

The Bible says David, later to become the famed Jewish king, killed Goliath, a Philistine warrior, in a battle in the Valley of Elah, now the site of wineries and an Israeli satellite station.

Archaeologists at Hebrew University said carbon dating of artifacts found at the fortress site, about 20 km (12 miles) southwest of Jerusalem, indicate the Hebrew inscription was written some 3,000 years ago, predating the Dead Sea Scrolls by 1,000 years.

They have been able to make out some of its words, including "judge," "slave" and "king."

Yosef Garfinkel, the lead archaeologist at the site, said the findings could shed significant light on the period of King David's rule over the Israelites.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is my first post so be easy on me.

With everything going on in the world this artical for some reason caught my eye. I wondered what could this prove or even disprove. Should this be watched closly or it is nothing. I know if I asked here I would receive the truth.

I searched if any one else posted. If so sorry!

www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Cool - thanks for the link.
It will be interesting to hear more about this.
Peace
dAlen

Awesome. Not even five minutes ago I was reading an article on news.nationalgeographic.com how they may have just discovered King Solomon's mines. The news was released on Monday it looks like. Pretty cool.

Ancient text in Hebrew unearthed
Words predate Dead Sea Scrolls by 1,000 years

[img]http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20081030/2008_10_30t134929_450x300_us_israel_archaeology.jpg?x=400&y=266&q=85&sig=811KGdXZnTIxsIEDpYHERw--[/im g]

A shard of pottery found by archeologists at a fortress city that overlooks a valley where the Bible says David slew Goliath is believed to have the oldest Hebrew text inscribed on it.
Photograph by : Ronen Zvulun, Reuters


I believe the more they find out what all 5 lines say it will interesting. We wait for signs. Could this be one of the many.

[edit on 31-10-2008 by mysticblue]

[edit on 31-10-2008 by mysticblue]

reply to post by mysticblue

I know if I asked here I would receive the truth.

I dunno if you’ll receive the *truth* but you’ll sure get opinions!

Will be interesting to keep an eye on this and see what comes of it all.

Great find and great first post!

I just want to say that i saw this thread yesterday, searched all over local (Israeli) sites, even subscribed into archeology forum to ask about this. Got no result,so i decided that the issue is not that serious. Then this morning heard about it on radio.
Isn't ATS great forum??? I mean i live tens of kilometers from this place, but read first about it here. Great job , guys.

P.S.
To somehow add to the discussion - lately there is a small outburst of archaeological discoveries here. I can't find link in English, but also this week Ayelet Mazar,archaeologist digging in the old city of Jerusalem claimed that the tunnel she is digging for 4 years might be the one used by king David to storm into Jerusalem, and this tunnel was not active/known since destruction of the first temple. Naturally it is only theory and there are all kinds of arguments and different opinions but it is her dig site. Add to it finding of ancient seal assumed to be from the end of first temple period...
Since there are no real archaeological evidence for existence of king David/Shlomo or even the of the whole country as it is described, those findings should be double checked.I guess that any Archaeologist would like to be the one to find those traces first, so a cool head and use of scientific approach should be a must. If it is correct however and the writings are indeed from that period - ... .
Anyway, once again, ATS and its members rock!!!