Over 100 years ago Edward Palmer explored the Sinai desert and recorded his findings in a still fascinating book entitled The Desert of the Exodus. At a site called by the Arabs Kuntillat, Palmer found some architectural remains which he identified as a Roman outpost on the ancient road from Gaza to Eilat. According to Palmer, this was the site known from Roman sources as Gipsaria.
Zeev Meshel of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for Nature Preserve Research visited the site in 1970. As he tells it, five minutes’ inspection of surface sherds at Palmer’s “Gipsaria” was enough to establish that it was not a Roman outpost, but a building dating from the Israelite period. Several years later, Meshel returned to excavate. The full story of the excavation has yet to be told, even in professional journals. But Meshel has revealed some tantalizing tidbits.
Only a single building stood on the site, isolated and alone, on a little hill. The building dates from the 8th century, B.C. What makes the building so unusual is that it contained a spectacular collection of inscriptions. Four inscriptions were found in the building’s central hall written in ink on the glowing white plaster which covered the walls, floors and benches. Other inscriptions were found painted on pottery and carved into stone. Single Hebrew letters were inscribed on leather-hard clay of large storage jars just before firing. All of the inscriptions are in Hebrew, except for three 034Phoenician inscriptions written on the plaster.
This is the largest collection of 8th century inscriptions ever found at a single site.
But the most extraordinary thing about the inscriptions is their content. Almost all inscriptions previously found from this period are short commercial or administrative documents. Although Meshel’s inscriptions are still in the early stages of decipherment, they appear to be poetic and religious! One speaks of “… the spirit of God …” (ruach El). Another invokes: “May Obadyo son of Adnah be blessed by God.” (see illustration).
The building in which the inscriptions were found is rectangular, measuring about 18 by 27 feet. On the inside, three long narrow rooms lined three of the walls. These were apparently storerooms—large storage jars were found in them—for the oil, grain and food which provisioned the lonely outpost. On the fourth wall—the east short wall—was an entry complex. Preceding the entry was a white plastered piazza. Inside was a narrow room surrounded by tiers of benches (see illustration). On either side of this room was a small room with windows about three feet off the ground which looked onto the main central hall of the building. In these small rooms off the entrance room was found some of the finest pottery and inscriptions. From the inscriptions, as well as the form of the building with its large central hall, it appears to have been a religious center of some sort, although Meshel declines to call it a temple. However, he does speculate that the small rooms with windows where so many inscriptions were found was perhaps a genizah or a storage room for religious objects that could not be destroyed.
Meshel is now studying his rare collection of inscriptions and other finds. He has promised to report on the results to BAR readers in a forthcoming issue.
Over 100 years ago Edward Palmer explored the Sinai desert and recorded his findings in a still fascinating book entitled The Desert of the Exodus. At a site called by the Arabs Kuntillat, Palmer found some architectural remains which he identified as a Roman outpost on the ancient road from Gaza to Eilat. According to Palmer, this was the site known from Roman sources as Gipsaria. Zeev Meshel of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for Nature Preserve Research visited the site in 1970. As he tells it, five minutes’ inspection of surface sherds at Palmer’s “Gipsaria” was enough to establish […]
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