ARCHAEOLOGISTS FIND 14th CENTURY FRAGMENT

ARCHAEOLOGISTS SAY A NEWLY DISCOVERED CLAY FRAGMENT FROM THE 14th CENTURY BC IS THE OLDEST EXAMPLE OF WRITING EVER FOUND IN ANTIQUITY-RICH JERUSALEM. DIG DIRECTOR EILAT MAZAR OF HEBREW UNIVERSITY SAYS THE 2-CENTIMETER LONG FRAGMENT BEARS AN ANCIENT FORM OF WRITING KNOWN AS AKKADIAN WEDGE SCRIPT. THE FRAGMENT INCLUDES A PARTIAL TEXT INCLUDING THE WORDS 'YOU', 'THEM' AND 'LATER'. IT PREDATES THE NEXT-OLDEST EXAMPLE OF WRITING FOUND IN JERUSALEM BY 600 YEARS, AND DATES ROUGHLY FOUR CENTURIES BEFORE THE BIBLE SAYS KING DAVID RULED A JEWISH KINGDOM FROM THE CITY. MAZAR SAID MONDAY THAT THE FRAGMENT LIKELY CAME FROM A ROYAL COURT AND SUGGESTED MORE COULD BE FOUND IN THE MOST ANCIENT PART OF JERUSALEM, LOCATED IN THE CITY'S PREDOMINANTLY PALESTINIAN EASTERN SECTOR.