Promises and Disrums – the Bible Archaeological Society

From time to time, a group of ancient roles or roles is discovered, which enlighten the Bible’s historical background to a great extent. Written records such as Tele Dan Steel, Mobbite Stone, and Dead Sea Tomar have undoubtedly improved our understanding of people, places and events mentioned in the Bible. We access these records through epigraphy, through the study of ancient logs.

Due to our unbearable hunger for the new insight into the Bible world, we are always anxious to learn new details that expert epigriers may be able to share. But this can be a negative aspect of this appetite for fresh insight: it sometimes also leads to highly learned experts, misrepresented or misunderstood that we can get from the newly discovered. In your article “Great to be true?” In the fall of 2024 in the fall Bible archeology reviewsEpiggerrofer Christopher Rollstin offers three precautionary examples of thrilling claims.

The first example of Rollsten is almost two decades ago in Jerusalem, almost palm -shaped stone piece. The ancient Hebrew script written on this piece has six letters, which are clearly part of some major written text. The artifacts and authenticity of the pieces are beyond the question, and on the basis of yields – the shapes of the letters – the script can be securely given safely in the end of the eighth century BC or early in the early seventh century.

Immediately after its initial discovery, this small pieces of six letters from Jerusalem were added to the pieces Bible archeology reviewsMarch/April 2009 issue. Courtesy of the Bible Archaeological Society.

However, in recent years, some scholars have offered the thrilling reconstruction of this Shaloli, and claimed that it completely reads, “Hezekiah made a pool in Jerusalem.” They already connect the text with the siege of Aswari in 701 BC, at the end of the eighth century, with King Ezekiah’s improvement and strengthening plans.

As appropriate, it includes a whole series of assumptions. First of all, the reading requires that a dozen letters be completely restored – in the two that are appearing in reality on the piece of stone – to complete the shit, which includes the Hebrew words of “made” and “Jerusalem”. Second, the letters that appear are difficult in relation to the rest of the reconstruction. True, the name of “Hezekiah” appears in the first line of the text. But like this, dozens of other potential names – and assumes that visual letters reflect personal names in the first place. The same can be said about the word “pool”, of which only the last two letters are visible: this kind of reading is understandable, but hardly it is the only possibility. Thus, with this ancient log, the problem is just that we do not have enough information to read this kind of reading with any certainty.

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The second teaching example is the “curse bullet” from the Mountable location in the West Bank. In 2022, a team of scholars announced the discovery and renovation of a small 1 -inch square lead tablet, which they had dated in the second thousand -year -old BC. Using sophisticated imaging techniques, the team managed to produce the admission scan of the item, which they say has revealed the 48-letter syllable: “Curse, curse, curse-curse-Gods. Yhw [Yahweh]. You will send a curse. Cursed that you will surely die. Curse by curse YhwCursed scars, curse, curse. “This claim created important waves as the academic community considered what it could mean in relation to early literacy in the region.

The so -called “curse pill” was discovered in Mountable. Credit: Jaroslav Walch, from Stripling El, “” You get a curse by God “: Early Hebrew from Mountable,” Heritage Science 11: 105 (2023). CC by 4.0.

However, with the publication of the “curse pill” in 2023, problems arose. The published images did not show any real letter inside the bullet. Even the drawings produced by an epiggerpiece have little or no correspondence with the objects that are shown inside the pill. Soon, other experts began to deny the claim that this item should be considered as an ancient log. A prominent scholar instead suggested that the “pill” is merely a pure weight of a fisherman, which has stupid marks that are not equivalent to writing in any way.

Cursed bullet interior scan, with the drawing of reconstruction. Credit: Daniel Worke (Scan) and Gershon Gail (Drawing), Stroketing El, “” You are cursed by God “: Early Hebrew Sciences from Mountable,” Heritage Science 11: 105 (2023). CC by 4.0.

Cursed bullet interior scan, with the drawing of reconstruction. Credit: Daniel Worke (Scan) and Gershon Gail (Drawing), Stroketing El, “” You are cursed by God “: Early Hebrew Sciences from Mountable,” Heritage Science 11: 105 (2023). CC by 4.0.

The last example is Rollston Person a Shaloli who was discovered by a tourist on a visit to the ancient location of Lachish in Jewish Futts. It is a small vessel shared with a short Iramek Shalhli, which states that “Darus’s year 24”, the Persian ruler who was on the throne when the exiled Jewish community returned to Jerusalem and built a second temple at the end of the BCE at the end of the sixth century. Immediately after that, in 2023, the Israeli antiquities announced the discovery of Shalhli. Laboratory tests confirmed the authenticity of “Darus Shalhli”.

Potri Sherid, which is mentioned by Darus with modern shelly. Photo: Nathan Stein Mayor.

Just two days after the IAA announcement, however, the man presented the written person, telling him how he had made this “ancient” item a few months ago, and scratching the letters on the shard surface as part of the teaching exercise on the site. The IAA was forced to withdraw and declare that the “Darus Shalhli” was not authentic.

In the field of epigase, our hunger of incredible material sometimes goes an unfortunate cycle of events: one or two scholars will make a sensational claim about a newly discovered ancient log. The media repeats this claim, often without proper testing or caution. And the public has been left to assume that this interpretation of the evidence should be correct. On the heels of such claims, even more cautious scholars try to treat the matter with more justice with the new insights in the Bible world, often in such a way that the diagnosis of early problems is never more secure than ever.

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For Rollsten, at least, forced to dramatic claims, reliable evidence, is presented by cautious, cautious, surrounded scholars who work hard to promote the facts. “The oldest,” “first,” “the most important” and such phrases work as red flags for popular audiences. Rollsten concluded, “If it looks great to be true, maybe that’s it.”

For more information about these discoveries and the passionate discussions created since they came out, read Christopher Rollsten’s article, “Great to be true? Bible archeology reviews.

Editor’s Note: Christopher is a member of the Rollstein Editorial Advisory BoardBible archaeological review.

Customers: Read the full article through Christopher Rollsten, “Calculating with a thrilling refreshment.” Bible archeology reviews .

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This article was first published daily on August 28, 2024 in the history of the Bible.

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