Tuesday, June 16, 2015

More on the new Khirbet Qeiyafah inscription

EPIGRAPHY: Inscription bearing name from Davidic era found at ancient site. Ishba’al son of Beda, found on 10th century BCE jar, likely not the same as a rival to King David with the same name, but discovery confirms popularity of moniker 3,000 years ago (Ilan Ben Zion, Times of Israel).
A new ancient Canaanite inscription including the same name as a character mentioned in the Bible as a rival to King David was found by archaeologists on a pot unearthed at a site in the Elah Valley, west of Jerusalem, researchers said Tuesday.

The inscription on a large clay storage jar found at Khirbet Qeiyafa dates to the Iron Age, from around 1020–980 BCE, and bears the name of Ishba’al son of Beda, researchers said in an article published in May’s edition of the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research.

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As usual, PaleoJudaica readers were already well aware of this story. Background here.