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Sebastian Scheiner/Associated Press

A TANTALIZING FIND. Garfinkel says the Hebrew inscription written in ink on this 6-by-6-inch potsherd comes from King David’s time and “will serve as the anchor for the entire development of the early alphabet scripts.” The ostracon bears proto-Canaanite script in five lines, each containing ten letters. Garfinkel says that the Hebrew words for “don’t do,” as well as “king,” “judge” and “slave” are legible, but this is as close as he will let you get to it—at least for now.