Ancient alphabet offers clue to biblical history
By: TED S. STRATTON,
Staff Reporter

Archaeologists led by a Bible professor from Pittsburgh made an extraordinary discovery in Israel last summer.

Their excavation team found the oldest example of the Hebrew alphabet ever seen.

The inscription, from the 10th century B.C.E., is written in the same script as early parts of the Hebrew Bible.

“Anything written in the days of Solomon,” would have been written in this alphabet, says Dr. Ron Tappy, professor of Bible and archaeology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Tappy presented his findings at The Cleveland Museum of Natural History March 8.

The discovery was made at Tell Zeitah (Tel Zayit in Hebrew), a site 30 km east of Ashkelon. The tell, or hill, is an artificially formed mound of ruins “layered like a wedding cake.” The rest