More on the Mount Ebal curse tablet / fishing weight

NORTHWEST SEMITIC EPIGRAPHY OR ANCIENT PISCATORY PROCUREMENT? New Studies Debunk Controversial Biblical ‘Curse Tablet’ From Mt. Ebal. A lead tablet discovered at ‘Joshua’s altar’ in the West Bank was trumpeted as the oldest Hebrew inscription. Skeptics suspect it says nothing and the thing was a fishing weight (Ariel David, Haaretz).

Look! It’s a 3,400-year-old inscribed lead tablet that could prove the historicity of the Bible. But actually there is no discernible writing on it and the purported tablet is likely a fishing-net weight commonly used in ancient times.

That’s the short version of the latest chapter in a bizarre archaeological row centered on a minuscule lead artifact and a contested ancient site in the West Bank, believed by some to be the biblical altar built by Joshua on Mt. Ebal.

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Yeah, that about sums it up.

Yesterday I noted a Jerusalem Post article on the as yet unpublished IEJ articles. Follow the links from there for many other posts on the object. This Haaretz piece has more details while we wait for the IEJ articles.

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