Egypt
YubaNet
- Rollston’s Reflections On The Fragmentary Ophel Tablet
Rollston Epigraphy (Christopher Rollston) With comments included. Rollston’s Reflections on the Fragmentary Cuneiform Tablet from the Ophel: A Critique of the Proposed Historical Context Introduction In IEJ 60 (2010): 4-21 a cuneiform tablet (written...
- Ancient Letter To Pharaoh Found
Discovery Channel (Rossella Lorenzi) With photograph. Archaeologists in Jerusalem have unearthed the most ancient written document ever found in the Holy City – a tiny fragment of a letter thought to be addressed to Akhenaten, the “heretic” pharaoh...
- Did Hebron Disappear?
aish.com ( Rabbi Leibel Reznick) Cites the "Amarna letters". We do not have to bother speculating whether or not Hebron existed in the Late Bronze-Early Iron Age. There is very conclusive evidence that it did. One of the more famous set of ancient inscriptions...
- Satellite Technology Unveiling The Past
http://www.suntimes.com/technology/guy/213451,CST-FIN-eCol17.article "The University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, known for antiquities scholarship, is using mapping software and spy-satellite photos to unravel the mysteries of how people lived,...
- Oldest Writing
During an excavation in Jerusalem just south of the walls of the old city a clay chip from a 3400 year old clay tablet covered in cuneiform script has shown the importance of that city in the late Bronze age. Researchers from Hebrew University...
Egypt
Sourcing the origins of clay tablets
YubaNet
A bit off-topic but the technique looks as though it will be applicable to Amarna period tablets too.
Unfortunately, when ancient kings sent letters to each other, their post offices didn't record the sender' return address. It takes quite a bit of super-sleuthing by today's archaeologists to determine the geographical origin of this correspondence - which can reveal a great deal about ancient rulers and civilizations.
Now, by adapting an off-the-shelf portable x-ray lab tool that analyzes the composition of chemicals, Prof. Yuval Goren of Tel Aviv University's Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations can reveal hidden information about a tablet's composition without damaging the precious ancient find itself. These x-rays reveal the soil and clay composition of a tablet or artefact, to help determine its precise origin.
But Prof. Goren's process, based on x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry, can go much further. Over the years, he has collected extensive data through physical "destructive" sampling of artefacts. By comparing this data to readouts produced by the XRF device, he's built a table of results so that he can now scan a tablet - touching the surface of it gently with the machine - and immediately assess its clay type and the geographical origin of its minerals.
- Rollston’s Reflections On The Fragmentary Ophel Tablet
Rollston Epigraphy (Christopher Rollston) With comments included. Rollston’s Reflections on the Fragmentary Cuneiform Tablet from the Ophel: A Critique of the Proposed Historical Context Introduction In IEJ 60 (2010): 4-21 a cuneiform tablet (written...
- Ancient Letter To Pharaoh Found
Discovery Channel (Rossella Lorenzi) With photograph. Archaeologists in Jerusalem have unearthed the most ancient written document ever found in the Holy City – a tiny fragment of a letter thought to be addressed to Akhenaten, the “heretic” pharaoh...
- Did Hebron Disappear?
aish.com ( Rabbi Leibel Reznick) Cites the "Amarna letters". We do not have to bother speculating whether or not Hebron existed in the Late Bronze-Early Iron Age. There is very conclusive evidence that it did. One of the more famous set of ancient inscriptions...
- Satellite Technology Unveiling The Past
http://www.suntimes.com/technology/guy/213451,CST-FIN-eCol17.article "The University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, known for antiquities scholarship, is using mapping software and spy-satellite photos to unravel the mysteries of how people lived,...
- Oldest Writing
During an excavation in Jerusalem just south of the walls of the old city a clay chip from a 3400 year old clay tablet covered in cuneiform script has shown the importance of that city in the late Bronze age. Researchers from Hebrew University...