Ophel Inscription

The Ophel Inscription is a partially preserved text found on a large ceramic storage jar (pithos) fragment discovered in 2012 during excavations led by archaeologist Eilat Mazar on the Ophel, an area south of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The inscription is written in a proto-Canaanite (or early alphabetic) script and has been dated to approximately the 11th–10th century BCE based on the archaeological context of the surrounding pottery and stratigraphy. When announced, it was hailed as the earliest alphabetic inscription ever found in Jerusalem and among the earliest found in Israel, potentially corresponding to the period of David and Solomon. The text, found on the shoulder of a large storage vessel, includes several letters, but the inscription is fragmentary and its full meaning remains uncertain. The script predates the period when the distinction between Hebrew, Aramaic, and Phoenician alphabets had been firmly established, and even the direction of reading (right-to-left or left-to-right) had not yet been fixed. The discovery adds to a growing body of epigraphic evidence from the Ophel area, which has also yielded the Ophel Treasure (a gold hoard) and other inscribed materials from Mazar's long-running excavation seasons.