The West Semitic Alphabet in the Early Iron Age
A New Hypothesis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5010948 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Benjamin Sa, Benjamin Saß (0000-0003-2855-3443), Israel Finkelstein (0000-0002-5643-2158) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 86 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 28-45 |
| Publication date | 2023-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Near Eastern Archaeology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1094-2076 • E-ISSN: 1557-5594 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/723458 |
| OpenAlex | W4322753672 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 13 |
In the hypothesis presented by the authors, stratified, nonmonumental inscriptions and their radiometric datings take center stage for the first time. It is in the living script of these texts rather than in the artificial alphabet of monuments that the evolution of the alphabet in Iron IIA can be studied properly. A key take-home lesson of the work is the significant ninth-century transformations of the alphabet from precursive Proto-Canaanite to supraregional cursive, thence to the well-known regional variants. Under the Omrides, the alphabet in Israel is attested minimally. No Omride texts were recognized at Samaria, nor Baashide texts at Tirzah. The newly founded West Semitic kingdoms since ca. 900 BCE will have constituted the cradle of the cursive, while papyrus or parchment and ink were the cursive’s likeliest vehicle. Alphabetic inscriptions on monuments, including Byblos, all cursive-inspired, will only have emerged in the last third of the ninth century
Alphabet · Ancient history · Arabic · Archaeology · Art · Cursive · Linguistics · Literature · Natural language processing · Ninth · Papyrus · Parchment · Semitic languages · Ancient Egypt and Archaeology · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Classics · Computer Science · History · Philosophy
The archaeology of Palestine
Redefining the Centre
Sub-Dividing the Iron Age IIA in Northern Israel
The West Semitic Alphabetic Inscriptions, Late Bronze II to Iron IIA
Inscribed Javelin-Heads from the Period of the Judges
A Late Iron Age I/Early Iron Age II Old Canaanite Inscription from Tell eṣ-Ṣâfī/Gath, Israel
Clues from the Enclosure-fills
The Phoenician Inscriptions of the Tenth Century B. C. from Byblus
From the Stone Age to Christianity
Tell Afis in the Iron Age
Radiocarbon dating the Iron Age in the Levant
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |