Archaeologists have found an artifact in the biblical city that revealed the secret of the appearance of the first alphabet

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Linguists do not have an unambiguous answer to the question of where, when and how human speech originated. Until recently, scientists believed that they knew exactly where they first learned to write. The biblical Tel Lachish, a Canaanite city that had seen Nebuchadnezzar, recently presented historians with a very expensive gift. Archaeologists have discovered clay shards with mysterious inscriptions that force us to reconsider the theory of the origin of the first alphabet.

Writing is something without which a person cannot imagine his existence. But where did the letters come from? Nobody knows for sure. Recently, a team of Austrian archaeologists took the plunge in understanding how the first alphabet came into being. A "missing link" has been discovered in the history of modern writing. This happened in Israel, where a small pottery was found dating back to 1450 BC. It seems there was more to it than just milk!

Legendary Tel Lachish

The city of Tel Lachish is located in the Shefela region in the south of central Israel. It is considered an important archaeological site on a global scale. Here archaeologists from all over the world have been rejoicing at invaluable finds dating back to the Iron and Bronze Age for several years. Researchers say that this was an extremely important settlement, which was repeatedly mentioned in ancient Egyptian documents from that period.

Mysterious inscription inside the jug

When a fragment of an earthen milk jug was discovered here in 2018, no one expected these shards to shed light on what happened thousands of years ago. There was an ancient inscription on the inside of the container. Six letters were written diagonally on two lines. Careful analysis has shown that this is the first documented use of alphabetic text in Israel.

What does the text say? Apparently, the following words are written there: "slave", "nectar" and "honey". Although the letters can be interpreted in a deceptively modern way. The study's lead author, Dr. Felix Höflmeier, says some of the inscriptions may be easily recognizable by those who speak Hebrew today. Although it is not exactly the same Hebrew, this ancient text could greatly influence its development.

Since it is unclear in which direction the inscriptions should be read, this ceramic shard creates an aura of mystery. For example, the team notes that “slave” may not be a whole word, but just a part of it. It is possible that this is someone's name. The fragment is relatively small - about four centimeters. The inscription is made in dark ink.

The age of this truly intriguing artifact was determined by archaeologists using radiocarbon analysis. When the experts realized that this was the 15th century BC, that is, the Late Bronze Age, they were delighted. After all, this fundamentally contradicted all long-established ideas about the development of the alphabet! Dr. Höflmeier explains: "The early alphabet was invented in Sinai, Egypt, around the 19th century BC."

History of the alphabet

Scientists believe that the ancient Egyptians, traveling to places such as Western Asia, gradually assimilated into the local community. Their hieroglyphs were gradually adapted by other cultures into their own communication system based on words rather than images and symbols. Over time, the alphabet reached the Levant, an area encompassing Israel, Palestine, Cyprus and other countries. It happened around 1300 BC.

This evidence of the 15th century alphabet proves that everything happened long before that! A drained pottery shard filled the gaps between 1900 - 1300 BC. Most experts believe that these letters are still too similar to the Egyptian hieroglyphs on which they were originally based.

Who is responsible for turning hieroglyphs into letters? In the 15th century BC, Tel Lachish was a city inhabited by the Canaanites. The transformation took place not thanks to the upper strata of society, but to ordinary miners. They broke the Egyptian code into simpler symbols and thus forever changed the way people write and speak. Variations of the alphabet used in Canaan spread from Turkey to Spain. Ultimately, this led to the emergence of the Latin alphabet, which began to be used everywhere.

Research That Changed Concepts

Previous speculations have focused entirely on the expanding Egyptian empire as the driving force behind the development of the alphabet. A jug shard found in Israel changed this. He proves that the Canaanites had a much more significant influence on the emergence of the alphabet than previously thought.

Previously, it was believed that the alphabet spread to the Mediterranean in the 14th - 13th centuries BC, when the Egyptians began to dominate there. Now experts believe that the alphabet could have appeared there earlier - during the reign of the Hyksos dynasty, who conquered the territories of northern Egypt and ruled there in 1650-1550 BC.

After this first alphabet appeared in the Levant, the Phoenicians adopted and adapted it. They subsequently spread it throughout the Mediterranean. There he gave rise first to the Greek, and then to the Latin alphabet.

A similar find was made decades earlier, but then it was not possible to accurately date it. Scientists questioned the meaning and conclusions. Now, with all the power of modern archeology of the 21st century, such an amazing discovery has been made.

The script found at Tel Lahish is the earliest known example of the use of the early alphabet in the southern Levant. This finding indicates that the alphabet developed independently and long before the beginning of Egyptian domination in the region.

If you are interested in the mysteries of history, read our article on what secrets were discovered by an ancient sculpture from the Urals, which is older than the Egyptian pyramids: the Shigir idol.