PALESTINIAN ARCHAEOLOGY 265 



changed and communication with the Aegean ceased. (2) The stratum of painted 

 Philistine pottery, side by side with native Canaanite work, but with no admixture of 

 imported Aegean ware. The pottery was indeed under Aegean influence, but was made 

 in Palestine by Philistines (1200 to noo B.C.). (3) The stratum of Canaanite pottery, 

 with no Philistine admixture. Chamber tombs were introduced from upland Judaea 

 by Israelitish conquerors, who destroyed the Philistine rule but left the Canaanite popu- 

 lation as it was. Traces of the conquest are probably to be seen in the burnt debris 

 encumbering the south gate. The city was finally destroyed in the 7th cent. B.C. 



Inscriptions. There have been no discoveries of Phoenician inscriptions of any 

 importance. In Hebrew the newly published material is of little interest* At Gezer 

 Prof. Macalister found some jar-handles inscribed in the usual manner with one word or 

 two, and also a sort of rough calendar, all of which are fully described in his report. The 

 "calendar " (op. cit. ii, p. 24+) consists of 7 lines (and some letters in the margin) scratched 

 on a : piece of limestone, 4j X 2| inches, and seems to be a table of rural occupations 

 month by month, but the interpretation and object of it are alike obscure. An agricul- 

 turist would hardly require such a document to remind either himself or his labourers 

 of the ordinary routine of farm work. Macalister is therefore probably right in suggest- 

 ing that the stone was inscribed as a tour de force by some partly educated peasant who 

 was proud of his knowledge of writing. He dates it, on archaeological grounds, in the 

 6th century B.C. Others, judging from the forms of the characters, put it as early as the 

 8th century. But if it was written by a peasant, the ordinary palaeographical criteria 

 will not apply. The writing is very unskilfully done in fact one letter is unlike any 

 known form so that it is wisest to accept the archaeological evidence. A very full 

 discussion of the tablet, by H. Vincent, appeared in the Revue Biblique, 1909, pp. 243, 

 493, with a photograph. See also the P.E.F. Quarterly Statement, 1909, p. 26. 



Much more important is the disco.very at Samaria, by Dr. Reisner and the Ameri- 

 cans, of early Israelitish remains including some which are inscribed. The official re- 

 port has not yet appeared, but as a very much exaggerated account was published in 

 Germany, Prof. Kittel made enquiries and printed a short statement of the facts in the 

 Leipziger Neueste Nachrichten for January 23, 1911, and the Theologisches Litteralurblatt 

 for '1911. A summary was also published by Dr. Driver in the Guardian for February 

 16, 1911. The following account is derived from Hdlscher's article in the Mittheilungen 

 d. Deutschen Paldstinavcreins for 1911 (p. 22), which is based -on Lyon's report in the 

 Harvard Theological Review (Jan. 1911) from Reisner's information. 



The inscribed material consists of labels serving probably as records of oil and wine 

 received for the royal household. They are mostly in the form of ostraka. The writing 

 is in the old Canaanite alphabet, similar to that of the Moabite and Siloam inscriptions, 

 done with a reed-pen and ink. The ostraka are dated in the year, presumably, of the 

 king's reign. As they were found in the same stratum with a vase bearing the name of 

 Osorkon II (874-853) it is conjectured that the king was Ahab. When the full account 

 of the excavation is published, there may be other grounds for or against this identifica- 

 tion. The texts are quite short, and of the following form: 



"In the gth year. From Shaftah: For (or belonging to) Baal-zamar. A jar of old 

 wine." 



"In the i oth year. From Ya?ath. A jar of fine oil. For Al,nno'am." 



Their chief interest is in the forms of the names. Those compounded with " Baal " 

 are about as numerous as those with ', showing the prevalence of Baal-worship. 

 Also the divine name is always in the form v (never IT), and usually at the end of 

 the compound, whereas in the massoretic text of the Old Testament v (of -vr) is used 

 only to begin, a compound (but cf. Ahio) and "' (or in') at the end. Palaeographically 

 the find is important as giving perhaps the earliest specimen of Canaanite writing. 



The recent discoveries of Aramaic inscriptions (including papyri) have been of the 

 utmost importance. After the publication (in 1906) of the papyri from Assuan, a large 

 number of similar documents were found at Elephantine (whence no doubt the first lot 

 originally came) by Dr. Rubensohn and Dr. Zucker in 1907-08. They were published 

 by Sachau (Leipzig, 1911), and in a shorter form by Ungnad. 



