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For fear of losing his game, the owner of this double-sided game board carved his name, Hanan, clearly on its edge. The paleo-Hebrew script dates to the late 10th century B.C.E.

The name Hanan also appears on a 12th-century proto-Canaanite ostracon found at Beth-Shemesh and on a 10th-century B.C.E. bowl fragment found at nearby Tel Batash (Biblical Timnah). The Bible lists the site “Elon Beth-Hanan” immediately after Beth-Shemesh as part of Solomon’s second district (1 Kings 4:9), suggesting that the Hanan family was once an influential multi-generational clan in this region.