Hebrew Text Discovered On 3,000-Year-Old Jar Handle

JERUSALEM — Archaeologists digging on Jerusalem's Mount of Olives have discovered a nearly 3,000-year-old jar handle bearing ancient Hebrew script, a find significantly older than most inscribed artifacts unearthed in the ancient city, an archaeologist said. The Iron Age handle is inscribed with the Hebrew name Menachem, which was the name of an Israelite king and is still common among Jews.

The inscription also includes a partly intact letter, the Hebrew character "lamed," meaning "to." That suggests the jar was a gift to someone named Menachem, said Ron Beeri, who directed the excavation for the Israel Antiquities Authority. There is no indication the inscription refers to the king himself.

The name and similar variants have been found on Egyptian pottery dating back 3,500 years, and the Bible lists Menachem Ben Gadi as an ancient king of Israel. But this is the first time an artifact bearing the name has been unearthed in Jerusalem, Beeri said.

"It's important because it shows that they actually used the name Menachem during that period," Beeri said. "It's not just from the Bible, but it's also in the archaeological record."

Based on the style of the inscription, he dated the handle to around 900 B.C., the time of the first Jewish Temple in Jerusalem as recounted in the Bible.

The vessel the handle was attached to did not survive, so it is impossible to tell what it was used for, Beeri said. Similar vessels were known to have held products like oil or wheat.

Construction workers uncovered the archaeological site while digging the foundation for a girl's school being built in the area, Beeri said.

Excavators also uncovered storage vessels and implements from two earlier nomadic settlements, both dating to around 2,000 B.C., he said, as well as artifacts dating from the time of the Roman Empire around 2,000 years ago.

Archaeologists have completed their dig, and construction workers building the school are back on the job, Beeri said.

The Mount of Olives is just outside Jerusalem's Old City. The hill is important to Jews because of its proximity to the destroyed Temple and to Christians, who believe it is the site where Jesus ascended to heaven.

Comments

[Khirad]

Yawn. I wonder what audience this is geared towards? The same audience that bought Ron Wyatt's "discoveries" hook-line-­and-sinker­? I'm not saying this is fake, the paleo-hebraic script at least appears convincing and I assume they carbon dated it to the Iron age.

I'm just tired of the obvious bias of reportage. In India they look for Krishna's footsteps or Shiva's Jyotirlingam, lord knows history and myth intersect, what does it prove except humans propensity to embellish? We all know why these stories make it big while most Americans have never heard of Persepolis or cared when the Bamyan Buddhas were destroyed.

[mychagall]

Khirad,

I wouldn't parade your ignorance if I were you. When it comes to archaeology, the Israelis know what they are doing. I don't really understand your rantings. If you are uninterested and unimpressed, than don't read anything on this subject.

[Moshe]

Great story. Thanks for sharing this.

[justanotherbushhater]

Yawn. Let me know when they find Yahweh.

[biged242]

The world's oldest advertisement! It says: "Eat at Josephus's". "Our falafels can't be beat" (That was the part that broke off).

[Coyote2]

Millions of acres of land claimed by Christian, Hindu and M.uslim states and peoples, yet no-one is willing to grant the J.ewish state a tiny handful of land.

[JohnFromCensornati]

"No-one" is an awfully inclusive word, coyote.

[MidtownGuy]

Maybe if they would stop killing the people that were already there, and stop discriminating based on religion and ethnicity there would be less of a problem.

[arvay]

Tell you what. Let's put that tiny handful on your property.

[Doomestic]

There aren't Billions of Jews around the world either, they are merely 20-30 million I think. Comparing how much land they have in comparison to billions of people of other religions is not sincere.

For example, there are almost 100 million Tamils in the world, and yet they don't have a "state". The precedent set by Israel is a dangerous one. If every minority in the world can make a religious claim to a certain land it supposedly lived on thousands of years ago, and establish a state and ethnically cleanse its indigenous people, we would have an infinite number of wars on our hands.

[mychagall]

Coyote2,

You are so right. The whole argument about wheter to accept Israel as a state is pure nonsense. Israel is a state, whether people like it or not. The Jews didn't need anyone's permission to find a new homeland for themselves.

After only 60 years, Israel has become a wealthy, thriving, and high-tech country.

[soral]

As far as I can see, this discovery seems to be reported because it could serve as a prism for those who hold strong positions vis a vis the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It has nothing to do with that conflict. It is an archaeological discovery. I think there are far too many international journalists hanging around Jerusalem waiting for another war.

[Aziat]

I dont see them discovering 3,000 year old Palestinian artifacts...

[RoloTomassi]

That's probably because there's no distinction that far back....

[AsburyJer]

The term Palestinian is somewhat of a misnomer in that the entire region is referred to as Palestine, thus the Philistines and the Israelites were each Palestinian, but that does not mean that they were the same culture. However, if you mean Philistine, rather than Palestinian then you would be wrong. The truth is that they were distinct cultures, with language, and with the types of artifacts they left behind. We know this because the Israelites would build on top of the Philistine cities and vise versa, which results in layering of artifacts and in each layer there are distinct differences in the artifacts.

Probably more than you wanted to know, but there it is regardless.

[Macready]

BRAVO Rolo!

[minimalist syntax]

There were also Palestinian Jews.

[Rog49Thomas]

Depending on your location, you could visit the

(1) University of Pennsylvania's museum

(2) Rockefeller Museum in East Jerusalem

(3) Oriental Institute (University of Chicago) to see the exhibits on Megiddo and Kadesh

Or you could Google "Canaanite" (which is the term given to the non Hebrew civilizations in the area).

[Rog49Thomas]

You might also be interested in reading Shlomo Sand's new book.

If you don't read the old language, the English version will be out in Oct/Nov this year.

[mychagall]

You have got to be kidding? Do you know anything about biblical archaeology?

[KansasWrangler]

I think it is interesting that there are often publications of finds of pottery or tablets or jewelry with ancient Hebrew text on them, but I rarely see anything with other semitic languages or any pre-dating Hebrew when, even the bible says, there were other peoples living in the land.

[AsburyJer]

The other stuff is out there, it just tends to not get as much press. This piece is interesting in that the name on it verifies a portion of scripture, at least that a particular name was in use during the era. As a theologian this is important because it gives extra-Biblical (outside) evidences to the history that scripture teaches.

[Macready]

AsburyJer .. . I don't understand the jump i.e. giving extra-biblical evidence to what scripture teaches bit at all . . . most of the events in the OT were written down hundreds of years after they happened . . . the only thing this proves is that a name was popular at a particular period . . how does that prove what was said in the OT . . . the OT says Ramesses II was responsible for the exodus . . . there is no nothing to back that assertion . . . in fact the opposite . . . there may have been small exodus's from Egypt . . .there appears to have been no historical figure named moses . . . the existence of Solomon was doubtful . . . the kingdom of David . . if there was one was at least 200 years later than the biblical time frame . . .and Nebuchadnezzar was not responsible for kicking the Jews out of Babylon . . . as historical fact the bible is very questionable and that is an understatement

[Macready]

I thought I had lost this one . . . the only thing a name does is record a name . . . it cannot confirm the OT . . . the most it can affirm is the popularity of a name at a particular period . . . I don't understand the need by both christians and jews to confirm the bible . . . prior to the development of archaeology . . . ok . . but not now . . . in fact the bible flies in the face of archaeological discoveries and history . . . the existence is Solomon is very doubtful and even if he existed as a son of David and Bathshebah (sp) . . I do wonder how the Jews would have reacted towards him . . . centuries later the Jews were against Herod and called him a half-Jew . . . so what was Solomon and what was David . . .were they Jews as we they are now . . .or did David .. . there is archaeological evidence from the late 8th century BC that Yahweh had a mate . . so the people who later became the Jews were not monotheists at that time . . the mind boggles . . .and there is a question . . that cannot be answered . . were all the people in the bible related to the people who became the Jews or is the Ot made up of stories,

[sudzy]

That's because the Jews could read and write. They were the scribes for the Egyptians.

[Macready]

I hope you don't believe the Jew invented writing . . . it's a toss up cuneiform or hieroglyphs . . . well well before the jews were in existence . . .

[Macready]

how about cuneiform . . that pre-dates Hebrew . . .

[mychagall]

Macready,

I just made my comment without reading yours. Wow, I'm impressed. How many people know about Cuneiform?

[mychagall]

You should look for anything in Aramaic, Cuneiform, Demotic to name some.

[eposter]

"It's important because it shows that they actually used the name Menachem during that period," Beeri said.

[RoloTomassi]

For the "Israelis are the original inhabitants" crowd:

I find it curious that most comments made on this issue are based on the bible, and perhaps that has much to do with the habit of putting belief above science in all things for some people.

There is a growing body of evidence that the Palestinians and Israelis share a common origin--the Canaanites. Rather than supporting the biblical story of the Israelis destroying the Canaanites, arecheological findings suggest that it is far more likely that the Israelites were actually slave-class Canaanites who redefined themselves after the fall of Canaan and created their own self-glorifying fantasy history.

But I suppose considering evidence over belief just shoots too many holes in too many people's dogmatic beliefs about the absurd notions concerning the "rightful ownership" of Israel.

It's just one more example where religious belief and traditional bias successfully holds back human progress.

[TheFriendlyAtheist]

Why the Jews would want to hold on to the idea that the biblical storys are true, and that they are therefore responsible for one of the worst acts of genocide in the history of the world, is just beyond me.

[AsburyJer]

LOL, you act like every culture in that time wasn't busy doing the same thing. Stop reading your 21st century ideals into ancient history, because if you walked up to them with those ideals they all would have laughed at you, Israelite, Canaanite, Moabite, or Egyptian alike.

[yakaria]

Yep. Because people are most certainly not allowed to have beliefs. Thanks you friendly atheist. You have convinced me that g-d does not exist. *sarcasm*

[Vernon Gudger]

Be aware of false archaeological finds in Israel. Remember some Jewish and Christian archaeologist manufacture fake finds to prove one point or the other. It is mighty funny this discovery is heralded a day after archaeologist, scientist, biologist and paleontologist reveal a 47,000,000 year old primate fossil. Evolution not religious dogma!

[doctorwang]

true- there have been several major fakes revealed in the last decade

[MosheDayanHero]

Let's how many brave Judeophobes show up to deny this archeological evidence by the end of the day.

[yakaria]

From the looks of it I'd say most of them.

[lightningbolt]

This is more proof that the Jews are the original inhabitants of Israel and Jerusalem. If they hand over this part of the city to the Palestinians, archeology in that region will end and we will lose much knowledge about history.

[wm1066]

So then the story of Joshua entering into the land of the Cananites to take Jericho is a myth?....
I think the Cananites held what was to become Israel before the Jews, and Jerusalem was called Salem before it became Jerusalem under Jewish rule.

[omobob]

Get your revisionist history straight. Yes they lived there for a time before abandoning the land. Ancient Jews were fighters and craftsman who went looking for a better place to ply their trades like Egypt. Yes they were paid for there labor. As were all builders of the Great Pyramids. Owning humans (slavery) wasn’t practiced until much later. The New Testament is a wonderful work of love and compassion. The Old Testament full of a wrathful God. The so-called fight from Egypt worked as a parable but it is not historically accurate. The Lands of Palestine have been inhabited by Phoenicians, Hittites, Persians, Romans, Christians, Jews and Moslems. some of the time they got along, but most of the time they were busy killing each other. Not much has changed but our perceptions of events.

[MosheDayanHero]

This just plain nonsense.. On one hand you confidently speak what Jews did in Egypt--which is built strictly on Biblical accounts. And the other hand you deny that there was Israel because you think the Bible is wrong. Make up your mind. Oh wait, you already have.

[Aziat]

They never abandoned the land, they were forced out. Get your revisionist history straight.

[moflard]

You're ignoring WHO the Palestinians are. They've been shown in study after study to be native to the area, first cousins to Levantine Jews, with a genetic distance of approximately 2000 years.

And, as an archaeologist myself, may I add that Israeli practise in my field has been widely deplored for its destruction of finds and blatant political bias, so handing over to the Palestinians may well be an improvement.

[arvay]

Thank you for your honesty.

Scientists have always been frustrated at interference from religious and political powers.

Here in the US, scientists had to sue to prevent the "Kennewick man" skull from being confiscated by Indian tribes and re-buried, because some saw Caucasoid features in the reconstructed face.

As though pre-Indian Caucasian presence in the Americans could somehow justify the massacres, ethnic cleansing and other horrible crimes committed by European settlers against the various nations of North and South America.!

As you know, these arguments about previous "occupancy" conferring rights of ownership and freedom to dispossess people are specious and blasted away by science. Too bad, because by my ancestry, I'm entitled to a huge swath of Eurasia, and these trespassers all owe me a lot of back taxes!

[moflard]

Irish inscription in Ogham characters have been found in Wales. So do the Irish get to kick the Welsh out too?

[Khirad]

How about La Tène? We don't need writing even! Let's all descend upon Lake Neuchâtel Switzerland and reclaim it for all Celts!

[Macready]

no it isn't . . . proof lightningbolt .. . what it is saying is that the writing is in hebrew and it is 9th century . .. there is evidence from the 8th century that Yahweh has a wife . . . so are these the jews as we know them or not . . . the only place in history where the people who became the jews have a place is in the bible . . . a lot of what is in the OT is not corroborated by archaeology or history . . . they were never a major power like the Babylonians, or the Sumerians or the Egyptians, etc etc . . . they were in the general area . . . but that still doesn't mean much . . . and it most certainly doesn't mean that god gave them the land forever . . . and they had some special arrangement with god . . .

[Macready]

the israel's are still desperately hard trying to prove the OT with archaeology . . . it just doesn't work . . . sometimes I think some people think that the Jews have been around since the dawn of time . . and that they even invented writing . . . nothing can be further from the truth . . .

[moflard]

Gods, biblical archaeology, so many faults it's hard to know where to begin. But to be fair, it isn't JUST the Israelis taking part in this, there's an awful lot of Christians desperately trying to prove the literacy of the bible too. Although, funnily enough, one of the few truly respected schools is run by the Vatican.

[sheilaofmiami]

The more we dig, the more we learn about ourselves.