If there is one benefit to be derived from the ongoing dispute over the location of ancient Alashiya, it is the production of new data, such as the previously unknown letter, in alphabetical English, from a well-reputed scribe, which Archaeology Odyssey has now published for the first time. From internal evidence, however, it is unclear which country it originated in, nor can it be easily dated. The spelling suggests a source in the United States, which would account for the lacunae, and the mention of horses and carts indicates composition in the 19th century A.D., where it belongs academically. At least it does not seem to be a forgery, like the inscription on the James ossuary, though it is thoroughly unconvincing.
Despite its protestations of filial piety, the missive attempts to bribe me with gold rather than copper, and asks me to believe that because Syria does not have copper deposits to rival those of Cyprus, Alashiya cannot be placed in the northern Levant. This argument makes as much sense as asserting that the only extant mold for making ox-hide ingots, which was found at Ras Ibn Hani in Syria, could not have been used for making ox-hide ingots because Syria does not have copper deposits to rival those of Cyprus. Of course the copper could have come from elsewhere. Alashiya does not need to have been the quarry where the copper ore was mined, unless my son Eric Cline has more surprises in store for his father.
When all is said and done—and it never is in archaeology—circumstantial evidence can never be anything but circumstantial, and no court of law would convict Cyprus of being Alashiya on the basis of the evidence so far presented. Unless and until Eric Cline and his siblings can produce an inscription with the name of Alashiya from the second millennium B.C. in Cyprus—and for obvious reasons I will not accept a stray find or unprovenanced object—my reservations on the equation will remain. Until then I fear that my errant son is destined to go on aimlessly sailing the wine-dark sea, hoping to find a suitable harbor in Cyprus, and never get to land in Alashiya.
If there is one benefit to be derived from the ongoing dispute over the location of ancient Alashiya, it is the production of new data, such as the previously unknown letter, in alphabetical English, from a well-reputed scribe, which Archaeology Odyssey has now published for the first time. From internal evidence, however, it is unclear which country it originated in, nor can it be easily dated. The spelling suggests a source in the United States, which would account for the lacunae, and the mention of horses and carts indicates composition in the 19th century A.D., where it belongs academically. […]
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