Related Papers
Formation, Organization and Development of Iron Age Societies: AComparative View. Proceedings from ICAANE, Vienna, Austria April 25-29, 2016
“Rethinking the Study of Iron Age Inscriptions: New Ways of Thinking about Old Problems.”
2020 •
Alice Mandell
The study of southern Levantine Iron Age inscriptions is predominantly tied to questions about the rise and evolution of West Semitic speaking states, in particular, the genesis of the monarchies of Israel and Judah. Scholarly debates about how to define literacy and describe the process of script evolution and standardisation inform the analysis of the inscriptional record and understanding about these ancient societies. More recent work in the study of literacy shies away from rigid definitions of literacy (e.g., literate or non-literate) and the tendency to limit the audience of texts to a reading audience. Rather, the production and meaning of texts are understood to be bound to the broader communities in which texts operate as well as their social practices. Such approaches have the advantage of highlighting the diverse functions of Iron Age inscriptions and their inherent multimodality. The following paper offers a summary of the extant scholarship on the development of the West Semitic linear script (also known as the Canaanite alphabet), and how it informs the study of southern Levantine Iron Age inscriptions. I then argue for the value of increased engagement with social-semiotic approaches to the study of writing. Such scholarship offers insights into old ‘problems’, such as the complex history of linear alphabetic writing and the gaps in the epigraphic record; such approaches also resolve some of the methodological challenges inherent in using inscriptions to study ancient literacy practices or to gauge socio-political complexity.The study of inscriptions in the Iron Age Levant is tied to questions about the evolution of the early Iron Age states. Scholarly ideologies about literacy and the process of script evolution and standardization inform the analysis of the inscriptional record and understandings about ancient societies. Recent work in the study of literacy shies away from the binary models (e.g., literate or non-literate) or assumptions about the correlation between the role of writing and a given group’s social complexity. Yet, these views are still pervasive in the study of the ancient Levant. The following offers a summary of the extant scholarship and the methodologies underlying them, and proposes engagement with new methodologies that will pave a way forward in the study of Iron Age inscriptions.
Finkelstein, I. 2005. A Low Chronology Update: Archaeology, History and Bible, In Levy, I. and Higham, T. (eds.), The Bible and Radiocarbon Dating: Archaeology, Text and Science, London: 31-42.
2005 •
Israel Finkelstein
The Knowledge of Writing in Iron Age Palestine 1
Alan Millard
Summary The Bible presents writing as a normal activity of daily life, but no Hebrew books survive from Iron Age Palestine to attest that. The written documents found there are few and brief in comparison with those from Egypt and Mesopotamia, yet they attest a varied use of writing which, this paper argues, reached beyond the scribal circles of palace and temple. Considered in the light of inscriptions from neighbouring lands, Hebrew epigraphy presents a richer source, lacking only royal monuments. On the basis of that evidence and analogies from other parts of the ancient Near East, a case is made for the possibility of written literature existing in the land from at least the tenth century B.C. onwards. The Bible implies there was writing among the Israelites from the time of Moses onwards. The verb 'to write' first occurs when Moses wrote an account of the defeat of Amalek (Ex. 17:14), the verb is used of writing God's words, by Moses (Ex. 24:4) and by God himself...
Tyndale Bulletin
The Knowledge of Writing in Iron Age Palestine
1995 •
Alan Millard
PEQ
Finkelstein, I. 2020. Iron Age Chronology and Biblical History Rejoinders: The Late Bronze/Iron Age Transition, Tel 'Eton and Lachish, PEQ 152: 82–93.
2020 •
Israel Finkelstein
In this article, I review three recent articles. In the first, Asscher and Boaretto (2018. ‘Absolute time ranges in the plateau of the Late Bronze to Iron Age transition and the appearance of Bichrome pottery in Canaan, Southern Levant’, Radiocarbon 60, 1–25) suggest that the Late Bronze/Iron I transition occurred in neighboring sites a century and more apart. In the second, Faust and Sapir (2018. ‘The “Governor’s Residency” at Tel ʿEton, the United Monarchy and the impact of the old-house effect on largescale archaeological reconstructions’, Radiocarbon 60, 801–820.) date the construction of a solid building at Tel ʿEton to the tenth century BCE and interpret this as validation for the historicity of the United Monarchy of ancient Israel. In the third, Garfinkel et al. (2019a. ‘Lachish fortifications and state formation in the Biblical kingdom of Judah in light of radiometric datings’, Radiocarbon 61, 1–18) announce the discovery of a city-wall belonging to Level V at Lachish, and affiliate it with the building operations of King Rehoboam of Judah, described in 2 Chronicles. Scrutiny of the methods and facts dismisses all three theories.
2013. Finkelstein I. and Sass B. The West Semitic alphabetic inscriptions, Late Bronze II to Iron IIA: Archeological context, distribution and chronology. Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel 2.2, 149–220.
Benjamin Sass
Review of Christopher A. Rollston, Writing and Literacy in the World of Ancient Israel: Epigraphic Evidence from the Iron Age, by K. Martin Heide, Journal of Semitic Studies 2013 58: 403-406
Martin Heide
Review of Christopher A. Rollston, _Writing and Literacy in the World of Ancient Israel: Epigraphic Evidence from the Iron Age_ (ArchBibStud 11; Atlanta: SBL, 2010).
Jeremy Hutton
Contact author for offprint.
Dubovský, Peter and Federico Giuntoli. Stones, Tablets, and Scrolls : Periods of the Formation of the Bible. Arcb. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2020.
Peter Dubovsky, Federico Giuntoli
A RE-ANALYSIS OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE BEGINNING OF THE IRON AGE I*
יצחק מייטליס Yitzhak meitlis
