The bottom line is that some do see and some don’t see Galil’s sketch and the markings on the rock fully corresponding. Once he publishes his findings and other scholars have the opportunity to evaluate the theory, we should know more. For the time being the rock seems, in my humble opinion, to be like a Rorschach Test of sorts.It is also a strikingly concrete example of confirmation bias. By that I do not mean that the people who see an inscription are wrong. I mean that specialists can look at the same rock and either see or not see an inscription.
I do think that the definite article and the medial vowel letters are fairly strong evidence against the proposed reading of the inscription, if it is an inscription. If they are really there, specialists need to rethink the history of early Canaanite/Hebrew orthography. Unlikely, but possible.
Background here and links.
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