Canaanite name found inscribed on 3,000-year-old jar

The Canaanite name Eshba’al Ben Bada’ has been found inscibed into a 3,000-year-old jar.

Intensive restoration work conducted in the laboratories of the Israel Antiquities Authority Artifacts Treatment Department, during which hundreds of pottery sherds were glued together to form a whole jar, solved the riddle – the jar was incised with the inscription: Eshba?al Ben Bada?. Dr. Mitka Golub and Dr. Haggai Misgav were among the team of researchers involved in deciphering the text.

According to Professor Yosef Garfinkel of the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University and Saar Ganor of the IAA, “This is the first time that the name Eshba?al has appeared on an ancient inscription in the country. Eshba?al Ben Shaul, who ruled over Israel at the same time as David, is known from the Bible. Eshba?al was murdered by assassins and decapitated and his head was brought to David in Hebron (II Samuel, Chaps. 3-4). It is interesting to note that the name Eshba?al appears in the Bible, and now also in the archaeological record, only during the reign of King David, in the first half of the tenth century BCE.

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Story: Israel Antiquities Authority | Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority