Qeiyafa Ostracon Chronicle continues - October 2009

 

15 October 2009:

 

 

  Dr. Haggai Misgav, the expedition epigraphist who studied the ostracon, presented his analysis of the script and the text at a workshop entitled "New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and Its Region." This conference took place at the Hebrew University Mount Scopus campus, in cooperation between the Institute of Archaeology and the Israel Antiquities Authority. The published conference proceedings include a detailed article with a photograph and a drawing. A few months earlier, Misgav's article was given to three experts on West Semitic epigraphy for review: Dr. Ada Yardeni, Prof. Aaron Demsky and Prof. Shmuel Ahituv. All three examined the ostracon at the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The comments of these scholars were also published in the conference proceedings.

Misgav, H., Garfinkel, Y. and Ganor, S. 2009. The Khirbet Qeiyafa Ostracon. In Amit, D., Stiebel, G.D. and Peleg-Barkat, O. eds. New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and Its Region, pp. 111-123. Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority and the Institute of Archaeology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Hebrew).

Ahituv, S. 2009. The Khirbet Qeiyafa Inscription - Response C. In Amit, D., Stiebel, G.D. and Peleg-Barkat, O. eds. New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and Its Region, pp. 130-132. Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority and the Institute of Archaeology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Hebrew).

Demsky, A. 2009. The Enigmatic Inscription from Khirbet Qeiyafa - Response B. In Amit, D., Stiebel, G.D. and Peleg-Barkat, O. eds. New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and Its Region, pp. 126-129. Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority and the Institute of Archaeology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Hebrew).

Yardeni, A. 2009. The Khirbet Qeiyafa Inscription - Response A. In Amit, D., Stiebel, G.D. and Peleg-Barkat, O. eds. New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and Its Region, pp. 124-125. Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority and the Institute of Archaeology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Hebrew).

 

 

24 December 2009:

 

A final excavation report on the 2007-2008 excavation seasons at Khirbet Qeiyafa was published in English. Three chapters in this report (14, 14A and 15) deal with the inscription. Two of the articles published in Hebrew in the proceedings of the conference "New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and Its Region" (see 15 October 2009 above) appear in this volume in English.
According to Dr. Misgav reading: "The combined conclusions produce the following proposed reading of the text:

אל תעש[ ] ועבד א[ת]
שפט בואלמ [ ]אלט
א?ל? ובעלל
א[ ]מ ונקמ יח/סד מלכ ג[ת]?
סרנ ע[ ...] מג/דרת

The inscription begins with several words of command which may be judicial or ethical in content, as noted above. The end of the inscription contains words which may relate to the area of politics or government. It is difficult to extract more meaning from this text at the present stage. We can determine, however, that the text has continuity of meaning, and is not merely a list of unconnected words".

Dr. Ada Yardeni's drawing of the inscription was published for the first time in this final report. She suggest the following reading:

אלתעש[?] : ועבדא[?] :
________________
שפט [?]ב[?] ואלמ[?] שפט י.
____________________
[?]גר[?]בעלל...מ[?]כי
______________
א[?]מ.נקמיבדמלכ
____________
חרמ[?].שכ.גרת.

Khirbet Qeiyafa Vol. 1. Excavation Report 2007-2008
XX + 304 pages, 21 x 31 cm, hardcover
c. 350 illustrations, 94 pages with color photos
ISBN 978-965-221-077-7
$72 ($54 to members of the Israel Exploration Society), airmail postage $13
Orders: Israel Exploration Society, E-mail: ies@vms.huji.ac.il

Misgav, H., Garfinkel, Y. and Ganor, S. 2009. The Ostracon. In Garfinkel, Y. and Ganor, S. 2009. Khirbet Qeiyafa Vol. 1. Excavation Report 2007-2008, pp. 243-257. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society.

Yardeni, A. 2009. Further Observations on the Ostracon. In Garfinkel, Y. and Ganor, S. 2009. Khirbet Qeiyafa Vol. 1. Excavation Report 2007-2008, pp. 259-260. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society.

Bearman, G. and Christens-Barry, W.A. 2009. Imaging the Ostracon. In Garfinkel, Y. and Ganor, S. 2009. Khirbet Qeiyafa Vol. 1. Excavation Report 2007-2008, pp. 261-270. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society.

 

24 December 2009 :

 

Dr. Greg Bearman and William A. Christens-Barry published an article describing the imaging techniques of ancient inscriptions, with examples of the Khirbet Qeiyafa inscription.

Bearman, G. and Christens-Barry, W.A. 2009. Spectral Imaging of Ostraca. PalArch's Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/Egyptology, 6(7):1-20.

 

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