« Canon: from GI.NI to QN to Κανών
Main
The Westboro Baptist Church Plans to Picket Jerry Falwell's Funeral »
May 15, 2007
Ninth Century BCE Seals from Jerusalem (?)
There's a report that archaeologist Ronny Reich found a number of seal impressions in the same context as 9th century BCE potsherds "at the bottom of the quarry/pool by the Gihon spring." I quote from Yigal Levin's observations as reported by Jim West who so far seems to have the best coverage. Jim also has links to a couple of news reports. Apparently, these seals have graphic elements but are otherwise are uninscribed.
As always, I want more details. Where the impressions on bullae or were the on potsherds (handles?)? If they are on bullae, they are certainly evidence for writing activity in the 9th century BCE. They would have been used to seal official written documents. If they are on potsherds, they are evidence for administrative activity and imply some considerable level of organization.
Levin made the following comment,
The fact that the stamps do not have writing could show that Judah had not yet become a very literate society at this time. That, in itself, of course, does not mean that there was NO scribal activity, just that if there was, it was limited.
I'm not at all sure that the lack of writing on the seals says much of anything about the level of literacy in the society. While Levin is correct that the lack of writing on the seals "does not mean that there was NO scribal activity," his further comment that scribal activity was "limited" seems unsupported except in the general since that all scribal activity was limited. If these impressions were on bullae, then they are solid, if indirect, evidence of scribal activity in the 9th century. Based on this evidence alone, how much scribal activity there was is anyone's guess.
On a closely related topic, Chris Heard, has a good post on the implications of the timing and overall context of this announcement. Chris is correct that the announcement was staged as part of a political event in support of the modern state of Israel. In my way of thinking, the use of archaeological finds to support, even by subtle implication, contemporary political (or religious) agendas is always wrong and raises questions about the finds themselves.
We all await the official publication of the seals or at least a few good pictures.
Update:
Jim now has links to some pictures. They are indeed bullae! It also appears that this is somewhat old news. Checkout Jim's Update III with comments from Yitzhak Sapir.
Posted by Duane Smith at May 15, 2007 11:47 AM | Read more on Scribal Schools |
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.telecomtally.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/2107
Comments
Post a comment
Please read Abnormal Interest's Comments Policy.