3,000-year-old Ophel inscription may corroborate the Holy Bible’s stories of King Solomon

• The label dates from second half of the  10th Century BC and was discovered in the Ophel area of Jerusalem, south of  Temple Mount
• It is thought to be the most ancient  Hebrew engraving to emerge from the archaeological digs in the area so  far
• Could mean Bible stories of King David and King Solomon were not passed down orally but written down at the time and are accurate
• Historians believe the type of cheap wine  held in the containers would have been drunk by slaves and  soldiers

ByMark Prigg

PUBLISHED:          13:51  EST, 27 January 2014

A small fragment of ancient pottery  researchers believe shows the first wine label could prove that the reigns of  King Solomon and King David actually occurred.

The 10th century BC ‘Ophel Inscription’ was  unearthed last year, and scientists were initially baffled by the bizarre  language that was inscribed on the remains of a jug.

A new translation reveals the contents of a  jar was ‘lousy’ plonk intended for slaves – and sheds new light on society at  the time.

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The label dates from second half of the 10th Century BC  and was discovered in the Ophel area of Jerusalem, south of Temple Mount

The word on the pitcher reads ‘yayin’ or wine and he  believes it should read ‘in the year [¿ ]M, wine, part, m[¿]‘ in a form of  ancient Hebrew, according to professor Galil

The label is thought to be the most ancient  Hebrew engraving to emerge from the archaeological digs in Jerusalem to  date.

‘We are dealing here with real kings, and the  kingdom of David and Solomon was a real fact,’ Gershon Galil from the department  of Jewish History at Haifa University told FoxNews.com.

Some experts previously claimed it was  written in an ancient near Eastern language, but Galil believes it is actually a  form of ancient Hebrew.

The inscription is eight letters long and was  engraved on a large clay pitcher in the second half of the 10th century BC in  Biblical times, which was used to store cheap wine.

It was found in the Ophel area of the city,  south of Temple Mount, as part of a dig by the Archaeological Institute at the  Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A word on the pitcher reads ‘yayin’ or wine  and he believes the whole inscription should read ‘in the year [… ]M, wine,  part, m[…]’.

Professor Galil explained the first missing  word ends with ‘mem,’ which is the final part of the word for the 20th or 30th  year of the kingdom and effectively dates the wine.

The middle portion or ‘wine, part’ indicates  the type of wine contained in the jar and in the Ugarit  language from northern  Syria, a similar word to ‘yayin’ means the lowest quality of  wine.

The final letter has been cut off from a  longer word, but Professor  Gahil thinks it could indicate where the wine came  from.

The discovery was made in the ruins of a Byzantine  public structure located  in the Ophel region between the city of David and the  southern wall of the First Temple, (pictured). This area is thought to be part  of an ancient city wall of Jerusalem dating back to the 10th century BC,  possibly built by King Solomon

Professor Galil recently  told The Archaeology News Network: ‘This wine  wasn’t served to Solomon’s emissaries, or in the temple, but apparently was for  the slave construction workers who worked in the area.’

Archaeologists already know that poor quality  wine was drunk by soldiers and slave builders and believe that it was stored in  large vessels that did not keep it particularly fresh, like the one found in the  dig six months ago.

Professor Galil thinks the carving was  produced after King Solomon had built the first temple, his palaces and city  walls.

The earthenware jar that is now known to contain cheap  wine, was found in the Ophel archaeological area in Jerusalem, where other  treasures, including a number of Byzantine coins have been discovered

The find sheds light on the Biblical  kingdom’s sophisticated society, where many people were thought to be literate,  taxes were collected and builders recruited and bought to Jerusalem to build  palaces and other infrastructure, according to the study, which was published in  the journal New Studies on Jerusalem.

Some historians dispute information gleaned  from the Bible that Jerusalem was an important city, but supporters of the  Biblical accounts, including Professor Galil, believe the inscription supports  stories that tell of complicated administrative systems and a strictly  hierarchical society.

‘Scribes that could write administrative  texts could also write literary and historiographic texts and this has very  important implications for the study of the Bible and understanding the history  of Israel in the biblical period,’ he added.

Dr Jonathan Stokl, a lecturer in Hebrew Bible  and the Old Testament, from King’s College London told MailOnline: ‘The  inscription is written in what is variously called “proto-Canaanite” or “late  Canaanite” script.

A 10cm medallion etched with a Menorah, Shofar made from  a ram’s horn and a Torah scroll, (pictured) was found at the same site as the  earthenware jug inscribed with the wine label. However, the medallion dates from  the 7th Century, unlike the older wine container

The language is probably an early form of  Hebrew, but it could be a closely related dialect spoken in Jerusalem in the  10th century.’

He explained that at the time the inscription  was made, the way words were written had not been agreed upon so some people  wrote from left to right (like English) while others wrote in the opposite  direction, like with modern Hebrew and Arabic.

While Professor Galil has interpreted the  inscription from right to left, another academic, Professor Christopher  Rollinston has read it in the opposite way, but has not arrived upon a clear  meaning.

‘Irrespective of what the reading of the  inscription is, it attests to someone writing Hebrew (or a closely related  language) in the 10th century in Jerusalem, probably for administrative  reasons,’ he said.

‘Professor Galil suggests that this indicates  that the inscription was made by some royal administration (something like an  early civil service) and I believe that he is probably correct with  that.’

The inscription was found in Ophel, near near Temple  Mount in Jerusalem (pictured) in December last year

The inscription was found among a pile of pottery  (pictured). Leading expert Douglas Petrovich believes the language is a  primitive form of Hebrew which suggests the ancient Israelites were recording  history much earlier than previously thought

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2546917/3-000-year-old-recipe-WINE-proves-Old-Testament-TRUE.html#ixzz2rkz7T8UE

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Find from era of King David may confirm Old Testament text — if politics don’t interfere