Thousands more inscribed ostraca from Athribis (Sohag), Egypt

COPTIC (AND DEMOTIC ETC.) WATCH: Archaeologists Discover 3,000 New Ostraca at Ancient Athribis Site in Egypt. Archaeologists in Egypt have uncovered 3,000 new ostraca at the ancient site of Athribis in Sohag, bringing the total number of inscribed pottery fragments found there to about 43,000 (Bill Giannopoulos, Greek City Times).

Multiple Languages and Scripts

Researchers found that the inscriptions include several ancient writing systems:

60–75% written in Demotic script
15–30% written in Greek
Smaller portions written in Hieratic, Hieroglyphic, Coptic, and Arabic

The oldest texts identified so far include tax receipts written in Demotic script dating to the 3rd century BC, while the most recent inscriptions consist of Arabic labels and notes from the 9th to 11th centuries AD.

Bold font in the original. Last we heard, in 2022, 18,000 inscribed ostraca had been excavated at Athribis. That's about 25,000 found since then.

The ostraca seem to consist mostly of documentary texts. But there are also scribal exercises and texts from temple-related religious activities etc. Quite a haul.

For more on the region of Sohag, where Athribis (Atribis) is located, start here and follow the links.

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