Hazor Law Code Fragments

The Selz Foundation Hazor Excavations in Memory of Yigael Yadin have recovered two fragments of a cuneiform tablet preserving portions of a law code at Hazor.

The text parallels portions of the famous Law Code of Hammurabi, and, to a certain extent even the Biblical “tooth for a tooth”. The team is presently working its way down towards a monumental structure dating to the Bronze Age, where more tablets are expected to be found.

The tablet is currently being studied at the Hebrew University. More details to follow as soon as possible.

The excavations are sponsored by the Hebrew university and the Israel Exploration Society, and take place in the Hazor National Park.

Hebrew University excavations recently unearthed a clay fragment dating back to the 14th century BCE, said to be the oldest written document ever found in Jerusalem.

The tiny fragment is only 2 cm. by 2.8 cm. in surface area and 1 cm. thick and appears to have once been part of a larger tablet. Researchers say the ancient fragment testifies to Jerusalem’s importance as a major city late in the Bronze Age, long before it was conquered by King David.

In the article,  Wayne Horowitz indicates that it may have been part of the correspondence between Jerusalem and Egypt known from the Amarna tablets.

According to Horowitz, the high quality of the tablet piece indicates that it was most likely part of a message sent from a then-king of Jerusalem to the pharaoh in Egypt. Horowitz said that the fragment, which is made of Jerusalem clay, indicated that Jerusalem was one of the central cities of the area at the time.

The next part is referring to the Siloam Tunnel Inscription, which is of course a linear inscription in Ancient Hebrew and not a cuneiform tablet as the report indicates:

The most ancient piece of writing found in Jerusalem before the Ophel fragment was a tablet unearthed in the Shiloah water in the City of David, dating back to the eighth century BCE – nearly 600 years “younger” than the Ophel find.

 (HT: Sasson's List)

UPDATE 1: See Duane's comments for more on Jerusalem scribal traditions.

UPDATE 2: The AlphaGalileo.org article adds little by way of new information.

UPDATE 3:Christopher Rollston weighs in here (with a short addendum by John Huehnergard about a difficulty with the official reading/interpretation).

UPDATE 4: Seth Sanders clarifies nicely what is known about the situation in Late Bronze Age Jerusalem.

UPDATE 5: Seth strikes again bringing the topic of the Canaanite dialect of the Levantine Amarna Texts back into conversation.

I'm a PC.  But on a day when Apple introduces an exciting new product, it is difficult not to peer on with interest and even a bit of glee.  By combining features of the netbook and the Kindle, the iPad is primed to launch the tablet into the mainstream.  That said, one thing I found extremely interesting about the aforementioned device is its physical form.

Does this remind you of something else?

(Cornell University Library)

Notice that the beveled back and flat front are analogous to that of the cuneiform tablet.  Unlike the molded plastic, glass, and aluminum of the iPad, the clay tablet's shape is determined pragmatically by the conditions of its composition—upon completion, a tablet typically was left to dry with the recto (i.e. the reverse) facing upwards, thus gravity would pull the edges downward forming the characteristic shape of a flat front side and curved back.  It should be noted, though, that Steve Jobs is not the first to copy this shape in a non-clay medium, imitations of the distinctive contour were made in stone and bronze in the ancient near east, and now it has been replicated in the iPad three millennium after the extinction of the original form.  Let no one say that cultural memory is short! 

Now if only the Apps store had a copy of the Ba'al Cycle…

View the previous DH.com posts here.

(HT: agade)

(see previous DH post on the inscription)

Thanks, JP.

**Updated 8/4 and 8/6**

The six-week excavation is being carried out within the Gan Sobev Homot Yerushalayim national park, close to the Zion Gate of the Old City.

The 10-line Aramaic script, which is clear but cryptic, is being deciphered by a team of epigraphic experts in an effort to determine the meaning of the text, said Prof. Shimon Gibson, of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, who is co-directing the excavation.

"This is a difficult script, not one that is worn or graded, which demands research," Gibson said.

Notes:

 -For more information about Shimon Gibson and the Mount Zion dig, see here.

 -An low-resolution image of what appears to be the end of two lines is provided with the article.

(HT: Jim Davila)