Ophel ostracon
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The Ophel ostracon or KAI 190, is an ostracon discovered in East Jerusalem in 1924 by R. A. Stewart Macalister and John Garrow Duncan in the area that was referred to at the time as Mount Ophel.[1] The area is now commonly referred to as the City of David by archaeologists and tourists[2] or Wadi Hilweh by local residents.[3] It is attributed to the 7th century BCE.
Discovery
Macalister and Duncan described the discovery as follows, referring to the 1909 expedition of Montagu Brownlow Parker:[4]
This sherd was discovered in the large cave under Field No. 9, and seems to have formed part of the dump which the Parker party deposited in that cave; its exact original provenance is therefore uncertain, though it must have come from somewhere in the neighboring tunnel, and probably not far off.
The ostracon measures 4 inches by 3 inches. The inscription, written in Pre-Exilic Hebrew, is thought to have originally been eight lines, of which five are decipherable (the first four and the last).[5]
It is currently at the Rockefeller Museum.
See also
References
- ^ Tribune, International Herald (2003-12-31). "Opinion | 1928: City of David Uncovered: IN OUR PAGES: 100, 75 AND 50 YEARS AGO". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-03-12.
- ^ Feron, James (1970-08-02). "Walking the Walls Of Old Jerusalem". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-03-12.
- ^ Greenberg, Raphael. Privatized Heritage: How the Israel Antiquities Authority Relinquished Jerusalem's Past. p. 6.
- ^ Faigenbaum-Golovin, Shira; Rollston; Piasetzky; Finkelstein; Sober (2015). "The Ophel (Jerusalem) Ostracon in Light of New Multispectral Images". Semitica: 113–137.
- ^ Macalister, R.A.S.; Duncan, J.G. (1926). Excavations on the Hill of Ophel, Jerusalem 1923-1925. pp. 182–1985. Archived from the original on 2019-12-09. Retrieved 2019-12-09.