Tag: history

History VI

[Ebal’s Plea, twelve of thirty-two]

Although Stripling realized that glyphs adorned the tablet’s outside, he was most intrigued by what may lie within. There as with other defixios someone likely inscribed a curse.

Usually this was of a trivial nature, often something like, “She stole my boyfriend, may all of her hair fall out!”¹

Stripling and a colleague therefore gingerly attempted to open it. The lead of one corner, brittle with age, however, crumbled. Further efforts they thus ceased.

Fortunately, the lead fragments Hebrew University in Tel Aviv successfully analyzed. The determination was that the lead originated from a mine in Lavrion, Greece.²

About that mine historians and archaeologist have arrived at an accepted position. It is that it exported to the Middle East from before the Late Bronze Age well into Roman times.

Here a curious historical anomaly deserves consideration.

In the Mediterranean world around the 12th century B. C. a dark age ensued. Then effectively Late Bronze Age civilization mysteriously imploded. Ancient exports plunged. Ostensibly European / Asian economic and cultural sophistication wilted. Among those civilizations disappearing or massively squelched include the Hittite, Ugarite, Minoan, Mycenaean, Trojan, and Babylonian.³ A definitive explanation for why alludes scholars to this date.⁴

From this dark age understanding Stripling deduced a probability.

He proposed that likely someone imported the lead tablet in the thirteenth, fourteenth, or earlier centuries B. C. Zertal dated pottery at the site between 1250 B. C. and 1400 B. C. Given the twelfth century’s mysterious economic and cultural collapse, someone likely imported the lead tablet in previous centuries. That is before the ancient dark age of 1200 to 1150 B. C.

The metallurgical analysis, therefore, strengthened Stripling’s idea about the tablet’s date. Although not concrete, likely, the defixio dated from early in the late bronze age.

Nevertheless, Stripling perceived that he had exhausted the tablet’s plausible investigative analysis. It was time for greater focus on his many other administrative, scholarly, and archaeological pursuits.

Thinking thus, he sent an email to a colleague attaching a tablet photo. Subsequently, among archaeological circles this began to circulate.

Then afterwards an unexpected opportunity for further investigation materialized.

Stripling read of a technological advancement. The ability to peer into lead to discern written content had been demonstrated. Also, he learned that the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics in Telč (Czech Republic) excelled at the process.

Arrangements were made. Israeli authorities gave a colleague a license to courier the “defixio” to Prague.⁵

Time passed. The Institute at Telč, 152 km. from the capital, finished its analysis and forwarded the results, scientific and epigraphical.

Amazingly the Telč team indeed perceived something within. An epigraphic expert there suggested proto-alphabetic letters. That is, ancient letters representing sounds rather than complete thoughts.

These initial revelations alone had profound meaning for Stripling. Now he had his most conclusive evidence for the date of the tablet. It had to be Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age I. That is, from as early as 1400 to as late as 1250 B.C.⁶

Why? Such was the epigraphically and archaeologically accepted period for use of proto-alphabetic script.

No longer did the tablet present an anachronistic dilemma. It now definitively matched Zertal’s pottery dates.

What else could this new evidence portend?

This I probe further in my next post!

Next post: “Attribution Crisis”

1. Sean McDowell, Oldest Hebrew Writing? Mt. Ebal Curse Tablet (Revisited) m.youtube.com>watch, (8:51), 11 May 2023. ↩︎
2. Special Update: The Mount Ebal Curse Tablet (Ep1 of 3), Youtube: Patterns of Evidence, youtube.com/watch?v=YX3TH_nfgLo, Episode One at (26:12), May 21, 2024. ↩︎
3. Stan Guthrie, “The Book of Joshua and the Late Bronze Age Collapse”, https://www.newcovenantnaperville.org/the-book-of-joshua-and-the-late-bronze-age-collapse, 02 Jan. 2025 ↩︎
4. Matti Friedman, “An Archaeological Dig reignites the Debate Over the Old Testament’s Historical Accuracy”, mattiefriedman.com, paragraph 21. December 12, 2021. ↩︎
5. Breaking News “Mt Ebal Curse Tablet Peer Review Complete”, Appian Media, In Roads, youtube.com/watch?v=_15tYO4hqJS, (27:30), May 12, 2023. ↩︎
6. Id., (06:40). ↩︎