A ceramic shard with what may be perhaps the oldest Hebrew inscription ever discovered has scholars speculating on the nature of King David’s kingdom. Archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem is the director of the dig at Khirbet Qeiyafa, an ancient, fortified site near the modern city of Beit Shemesh in the Judean foothills. The pottery shard has been dated to 1,000 and 975 B.C., the same time as the Biblical golden age of David's rule in Jerusalem. Dr. Garfinkel maintains that the inscription and the sophisticated nature of the settlement ruins are evidence that a powerful kingdom existed at the time of King David, a theory that had come under fire from some scholars who say that the legendary kingdom of David was little more than a small chiefdom, if it existed at all. Read the entire article here.Here's the first paragraph from the NY Times:
Overlooking the verdant Valley of Elah, where the Bible says that David toppled Goliath, archaeologists are unearthing a 3,000-year-old fortified city that could reshape views of the period when David ruled over the Israelites. Five lines on pottery uncovered here appear to be the oldest Hebrew text ever found and are likely to have a major impact on knowledge about the history of literacy and alphabet development. Read it all here.
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