A big argument is brewing in science. Is a small square of lead a ‘curse tablet’ calling on God to curse his enemies?
Or is it an old fishing weight?
That’s the debate currently raging over the famous Mount Ebal tablet, discovered in 2019.
The researchers who found it say the tiny piece of lead, folded in half to about the size of a postage stamp, bears the earliest known inscription of the name Yahweh, the god of the Israelites.
The findings were published in the journal Heritage Science in May.
However, archaeologist Professor Aren Maeir of Israel’s Bar-Ilan University has a different take, and argues there is no inscription at all, simply indentations left by thousands of years of weathering.
‘Maybe there’s something there,’ he said, speaking to Live Science. ‘But with what they’ve published, there isn’t.’
Professor Maeir is author of one of three papers coming out this week calling into question the tablet’s origins. While noting that the original paper only reveals the ‘inscriptions’ on the inside of the tablet, he argues the images that have been published do not reveal a language of any kind.
‘It could be that there are other photos, and that the outside inscription is in fact there,’ he said. ‘But from what we know, based on what has been published so far, there are many, many problems with their interpretation.’
Mount Ebal, thought to be the site of Joshua’s Altar (Picture: Shomrim Al Hanetzach)
The tablet was found four years ago in material excavated in the 1980s from a site on Mount Ebal, north of Nablus on the West Bank.
The site is known as ‘Joshua’s Altar’, and is believed by some archaeologists to be where Moses’ successor sacrificed animals to Yahweh more than 3,000 years ago.
Others argue it is a much younger Iron Age sacrificial altar – and because the tablet was only discovered decades after it was excavated, it is hard to confirm its exact context in relation to the site.
However, the possible inscription and location match scenes described in the book Deuteronomy on the twin peaks of Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. The mountains were designated by God for the readings of curses and blessings.
The tiny tablet (Picture: Michael C. Luddeni/Associates for Biblical Research)
But another study out this week, written by archaeologist Amihai Mazar, argues the tablet closely resembles weights used for nets at the time, either for catching fish in nearby rivers, or even birds.
Two very different uses, cursing and fishing.
The author of the original article, Dr Scott Stripling from the Associates for Biblical Research, told Live Science the research paper was too long to be published in one go, and a second study analysing the outer inscriptions will be published in future.
He said the recent studies disputing the findings would be addressed in the paper, and added: ‘I am confident that there is writing on the tablet. It is natural for other scholars to reach divergent views, and I look forward to reading the forthcoming articles in the [Israel Exploration Journal].’