Instead, you realize that the evening could go flat. Rather than a triumph, conversation could lag. Only tired talk about pets, family, bills, costs, ailments, and neighbors revives it. Some people struggle to participate. Others monopolize. Guests leave appreciative of your efforts, but relieved to go home.
Hosts usually aim to enrich relationships.
Yet, they realize that a meal alone, no matter how sensational, may not achieve such.
However, they know what can. That is a great conversation.
But where might they find a catalyst for this? How is it introduced?
This website proposes a catalyst and vehicle. That is entente cordiale dining. For great conversations with potential captivating twists, it strives.
The next post describes this dining format and its introduction. Subsequent ones detail examples.
In this memorandum, I committed to answering three questions about the Curse Tablet. Those were:
Are the phenomenal claims about the curse tablet supported by enough evidence?
Is potential historical evidence hidden on Mount Ebal?
Why excavate now?
Note
This is the twenty-ninth post of my memorandum on the Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet.
If you have accessed this post from other than captivatingtwists.com and wish to start the journey from the beginning, click here.
Otherwise, continue below.
Solutions to the fourth question I reserved for a different treatment. At it, I resolved to only glimpse rather than explore in full. That issue was how to excavate without further stoking a Middle Eastern war. The letter to my congressional delegation provides that hint. You will find it in the supplemental materials.
Of the three that I committed to addressing, two need no further explanation.
I have argued that Stripling presented enough evidence. This warrants the excavation of Joshua’s Altar. The previous post, “My Adjudication,” summarizes this.
I have also argued that the altar lies in peril. Thus, its excavation should occur posthaste. This I outlined in the post that I titled “Troubled Waters.”
A remaining issue, however, bears further comment. Does Mt. Ebal hide evidence of great importance to mankind?
This post addresses that issue.
The Curse Tablet likely remembered or reenacted Joshua’s initial ceremony. The evidence indicates that the author inscribed it after Joshua’s initial ceremony. Why? A part of the small round altar, the one most likely associated with Joshua, is not yet excavated. 1 That implies that the Curse Tablet likely came from a time after the initial event.
That raises a possibility. A tablet accompanied the initial ceremony!
Dr. Stripling has somewhat countered this. “It would surprise him, he has said, if Joshua’s altar revealed any other curse tablets.” 2
He surmises that the tablet’s author inscribed it for Joshua’s ceremony. The tablet summarizes the curses that the Hebrews and Joshua pronounced.
Stripling’s assumption of there being no further tablet is, of course, plausible.
But note too that Stripling anticipates geopolitical tensions diminishing. Then he anticipates excavating the remaining part of the small altar.
Further excavation and analysis raise interesting propositions.
The Book of Job implies that the ancients often inscribed lead. 3
Note that Stripling’s team has found three writing styluses. These were in the east dump, the one that Zertal designated for the altars’ fill. 4 This suggests many writings on metal. These etchings may also lie in the west dump, which Stripling has not yet wet-sifted.
Additionally, the site offers geomagnetic data. Epigraphic data is not the only valuable archaeological evidence.
Recently, geomagnetic dating has proved key to the precise dating of ancient sites. 5
After solids heat to an extreme temperature and then cool, something revealing happens. Their crystals align with the Earth’s core geomagnetic signature. Compare these with the signatures of other burn sites from a similar period. This gives clues about their relative dates.
Scientists should analyze the magnetic signatures of the stones from Joshua’s Altar. 1
This also applies to the tablet and the pottery sherds found on the site. This would be especially important for particular items. This includes artifacts derived from the untouched part of the small altar.
Match this information to other burn data from sites across the Late Bronze Age Middle East. Examples include those from Egyptian, Hittite, Ugaritic, Minoan, Mycenaean, Trojan, and Babylonian sources.
This one would compare to an anchor, one known contemporary date.
I realize that zeroing in on a solid anchor date in such ancient times may be difficult. Still, we should retrieve and store the geomagnetic data. That way, if an anchor is ever identified, if one does not now exist, the data will be available.
Precision calculation of Joshua’s Altar would follow.
In sum, there is archaeological evidence that mankind should glean. This can prove crucial to unraveling the mysteries underlying Mt. Ebal.
Thus, we need to excavate and analyze Joshua’s Altar posthaste.
What is today’s question? What burn events should we compare with the geomagnetic signatures of Joshua’s Altar?
Let me know in the comment section below.
Thank you for engaging with this topic thus far!
The next post I will title: “Curse Tablet Conclusion.”
I look forward to continuing with you there.
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[{“content”:”Associates for Biblical Research, Cursed! The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Part Three, Digging for Truth Episode 200), YouTube, (16:20), May 1, 2023.”,”id”:”91c86d9a-7615-4c05-854d-95c65b2398ac”},{“content”:”Sean McDowell, Oldest Hebrew Writing? Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet (Revisited) m.youtube.com>watch, (17:35), 11 May 2023.”,”id”:”48330e60-9db4-4fca-ba12-ab818ee315dc”},{“content”:”Associates for Biblical Research, Cursed! The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Part Two, Digging for Truth Episode 200), YouTube, (10:35), May 1, 2023.”,”id”:”80db4acd-47be-4695-9467-270835c95762″},{“content”:”Associates for Biblical Research, YaHWeh Curse Tablet: A Tsunami from Mt. Ebal, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU5njOpRCHQ&t=85s, (42:22) 1 November 2024.”,”id”:”aad02fcb-d880-4aa3-afd8-7cea714bb04e”},{“content”:”ELIZABETH FERNANDEZ, Big Think, Earth’s magnetic field supports biblical stories of destruction of ancient cities When battles raged in ancient cities, their rocks blazed so brightly that they could be reoriented according to Earth’s magnetic field, December 25, 2023″,”id”:”84fe409c-3630-4d33-b6c5-70cdc39c78a7″},{“content”:”Associates for Biblical Research, YaHWeh Curse Tablet: A Tsunami from Mt. Ebal, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU5njOpRCHQ&t=85s, (13:15) 1 November 2024.”,”id”:”8384f2b7-196a-412d-abe8-ac1be14d690f”}]
