In the fifth season of excavations at Tel Beth-Shemesh (Ain Shams, present-day Israel) in 1933, a fractured tablet with a cuneiform inscription dating to the Late Bronze Age was found. This find, quickly considered the oldest alphabetic cuneiform text discovered in the Canaanite area outside Ugarit, became the focus of numerous studies.

Subsequent readings suggested that this was the earliest example of a South Semitic alphabetic sequence. Now, a new study, through petrographic analysis of materials, examined the possible production location of the tablet and its implications regarding the object’s function and cultural context.

Tel Beth-Shemesh is located in the Shephelah region, an area of hills in present-day Israel. During the excavations, the tablet was found at the base of the south wall of a structure identified as Room 526 III. This archaeological context suggests that the object might have played a significant role in the rituals or administrative practices of the time.

Map of the Levant in the Late Bronze Age, showing the location of Ugarit and Tel Beth-Shemesh.
Map of the Levant in the Late Bronze Age, showing the location of Ugarit and Tel Beth-Shemesh. Credit: I. Ben-Ezra / Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University

Furthermore, the geological properties of the material suggest that the tablet reflects the environment of the place where it was found, although it cannot be conclusively established that it was specifically produced in Tel Beth-Shemesh.

The text of the tablet is written from right to left, an uncommon but not rare characteristic in alphabetic cuneiform texts. The writing begins in the upper right corner and continues counterclockwise along the tablet’s margins.

In 1933, much of the Ugaritic alphabet had already been deciphered, allowing Barton to interpret the inscription as a possible prayer addressed to the god El, requesting the removal of impediments: “Oh El, cut the backbone of my stammering! I wish (that…) you remove the spring of the impediment…”

Scheme of the inscription on the tablet
Scheme of the inscription on the tablet. Credit: J. Yogev / Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University

Albright, one of the first to study the object, noted that the characters were slightly different from the Ugaritic ones and thought they might represent a Canaanite dialect. He used a mirror to read it due to the writing direction and interpreted it as “Indeed, oh goddesses of birth, enter (her womb?), make this (woman) produce (offspring), and expel Death from her!”

The epigraphic and comparative analysis suggests that the tablet might have had a ceremonial purpose, possibly as a votive offering or sacred deposit. The unusual shape and the application of two lumps of clay before pressing the entire body into a mold indicate a unique production process.

However, later studies suggested that it was an alphabetic sequence of Semitic characters, similar to those found later on other tablets.

Photomicrographs of the tablet
Photomicrographs of the tablet. Credit: J. Yogev / Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University

The overall design and the quality of the writing suggest that it was the work of an untrained scribe rather than a professional one. The presence of a child’s fingerprint on the back and corrected writing errors point to it being a school exercise carried out by a minor learning to write.

Researchers conclude that this school text makes the reading even more problematic, as it must be determined whether the unique forms of some letters are scribe errors or represent the proper form of a letter. This tablet is the only evidence of a school text in the cuneiform alphabet outside Ugarit. The other two inscriptions found in present-day Israel may represent a local Canaanite dialect and a writing system of that region and are a valuable component when discussing the birthplace of the alphabet in the ancient Near East.


Sources

Fossé, C., Yogev, J., Mirão, J., Schiavon, N., & Goren, Y. (2024). Archaeo-Material Study of the Cuneiform Tablet from Tel Beth-Shemesh. Tel Aviv, 51(1), 3–17. doi.org/10.1080/03344355.2024.2327796


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