'Temple Tablet' may yield insights
By Richard N. Ostling
Associated Press
The dispute continues over the reported discovery of the first inscription directly tied to one of the ancient kings in the Bible.
If authentic and truly thousands of years old, the words on what has been dubbed the "Temple Tablet" would strengthen Israel's present-day claim to Jerusalem's Temple Mount.
This would also buttress traditional Jewish and Christian belief in the reliability of Old Testament history, against scholars who treat the accounts of King Solomon and his Temple as fiction.
The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement, which wants to reconstruct Jerusalem's Temple, calls the Temple Tablet "the most important and exciting archaeological discovery." But some leading scholars say it's nothing but a hoax.
The slab of dark sandstone, the size of a legal pad, is inscribed with 15 lines in ancient Hebrew.
The message echoes biblical accounts (2 Kings 12, 2 Chronicles 24) about Temple repairs under King Jehoash (Joash). By conventional reckoning, the Temple was completed 2,962 years ago and Joash reigned several generations afterward.
The discovery was reported in the Israeli press in January. To sort through the confusion that ensued, the Biblical Archaeology Review provides an assessment by its editor, Hershel Shanks.
There's considerable mystery, since the lawyer representing the tablet's owner won't say who he is, how he got it or exactly where and how it was found. Press reports say some Arabs obtained it in a valley near the Temple Mount or, as the site's Muslim administrators call it, the Noble Sanctuary.
If this inscription is authentic, Shanks writes, that will impugn the detective ability of epigraphers or inscription experts, and of philologists, or language experts. If it's a hoax, it undercuts confidence in geologists.
In 2001, the tablet was shown to Joseph Naveh, a specialist in ancient writings at Israel's Hebrew University. He concluded it was probably a forgery, and later became even more dubious.
The tablet was then submitted to the Geological Survey of Israel, where three experts pronounced it authentic.
Since then, textual experts have split; others are undecided. One problem: There's little written material from that era for comparison.
According to geologists, electron microscope examination showed that the surface film, or patina, indicates an ancient inscription. In addition, fine particles of carbon were discovered in the patina that allowed carbon-14 tests to fix a date of 400 B.C. to 200 B.C. at 95 percent certainty.
Some Israeli historians are calling for wider and repeat testing to help settle the matter.
On the Web:
