List Of Inscriptions In Biblical Archaeology

The following is a list of inscribed artifacts, items made or given shape by humans, that are significant to biblical archaeology.

Selected artifacts significant to biblical chronology

These table lists inscriptions which are of particular significance to the study of biblical chronology. The table lists the following information about each artifact:
;Name: In English
;Current location: Museum or site
;Discovered: Date and location of discovery
;Date: Proposed date of creation of artifact
;Writing: Script used in inscription (if any)
;Significance: Reason for significance to biblical archeology
;Refs: ANET and COS references, and link to editio princeps (EP), if known

Egyptian

Other significant Egyptian artifacts

* Execration texts – earliest references to many Biblical locations
* Papyrus Brooklyn 35.1446– A document that lists the names of 45 individuals, including a Canaanite woman named "Šp-ra." Scholars assume that this is a hieroglyphic transliteration of the Hebrew name "Shiphrah," which also appears in Exodus 1:15–21. However, the document dates to c. 1833-1743 BCE (centuries before the biblical Shiphra would have lived).
* Ipuwer Papyrus – poem describing Egypt as afflicted by natural disasters and in a state of chaos. The document is dated to around 1250 BC but the content is thought to be earlier, dated back to the Middle Kingdom, though no earlier than the late Twelfth Dynasty. Once thought to describe the biblical Exodus, it is now considered the world's earliest known treatise on political ethics, suggesting that a good king is one who controls unjust officials, thus carrying out the will of the gods.
* Berlin pedestal relief – considered by many modern scholars to contain the earliest historic reference to ancient Israel. Experts remain divided on this hypothesis.

Cuneiform

Other significant Cuneiform artifacts

* Creation myths and flood myths – recorded on the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Atra-Hasis tablets, the Enûma Eliš, the Eridu Genesis and the Barton Cylinder
* Law tablets – ancient Near East legal tablets: Code of Hammurabi, Laws of Eshnunna, the Code of Ur-Nammu, king of Ur (c. 2050 BC), the Laws of Eshnunna (c. 1930 BC) and the codex of Lipit-Ishtar of Isin (c. 1870 BC). Later codes than Hammurabi's include the Code of the Nesilim. Hittite laws, the Assyrian laws, and Mosaic Law / Ten Commandments. (see Cuneiform law).
*Tell al-Rimah stela (c. 780 BC) – tells of the exploits of Adad-nirari III, mentioning " Joash King of Samaria"Text and History: Historiography and the Study of the Biblical Text
, page 168
*Annals of Tiglath-Pileser III (740–730 BC):
**Layard 45b+ III R 9,1 possibly refers to UR sa-me-ri-i-na-a-aas land of Samaria"ref name=Kelle />
**The Iran Stela refers to KUR sa-m ri-i-na-a- "land of Samaria"
**Layard 50a + 50b + 67a refers to URU sa-me-ri-na-a-a "city of Samaria"
**Layard 66 refers to URU Sa-me-ri-na "city of Samaria"
** III R 9.3 50, refers to "Menahem the Samarian"
** Nimrud Tablet III R 10.2 28–29, refers to the overthrown of Pekah by Hoshea.
** one fragment refers to "Azriau" and another it has been joined to refers to "Yaudi". Some scholars have interpreted this as Ahaziah / Uzziah, although this is disputed and has not gained scholarly consensus.
** III R 10,2 refers to KUR E Hu-um-ri-a "land of Bit-Humri"
** ND 4301 + 4305 refers to KUR E Hu-um-ri-a "land of Bit-Humri"
* Babylonian Chronicle ABC1 (725 BC) – Shalmaneser V refers to URU Sa-ma/ba-ra-'-in "city of Samar(i)a"
*Annals of Sargon II (720 BC):
**Nimrud Prism, Great Summary Inscription refers to URU Sa-me-ri-na "city of Samerina"
**Palace Door, Small Summary Inscription, Cylinder Inscription, Bull Inscription refers to KUR Bit-Hu-um-ri-a "land of Bit-Humri"
*Victory stele of Esarhaddon – a dolerite stele commemorating the return of Esarhaddon after his army's second battle and victory over Pharaoh Taharqa in northern ancient Egypt in 671 BC, discovered in 1888 in Zincirli Höyük (Sam'al, or Yadiya) by Felix von Luschan and Robert Koldewey. It is now in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.
* Esarhaddon's Succession Treaty (written around 675 BCE) – Some scholars think that this treaty served as a literary model for the curses in Deuteronomy 28:15–64, as well as content in Deuteronomy 13, due to strong textual similarities.
*Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet (circa 595 BC) – a clay cuneiform inscription referring to an official at the court of Nebuchadrezzar II, king of Babylon, possibly the same official named in the Biblical Jeremiah.
*Jehoiachin's Rations Tablets (6th century BC) – Describe the rations set aside for a royal captive identified with Jehoiachin, king of Judah (Cf. 2 Kings ,; ; 2 Chronicles ; Jeremiah ; 29:2; ; Ezekiel ).

Canaanite and Aramaic

Other significant Canaanite and Aramaic artifacts

*Early Paleo-Hebrew writing – contenders for the earliest Hebrew inscriptions include the Gezer calendar, Biblical period ostraca at Elah and Izbet Sartah, and the Zayit Stone
*Pim weight – evidence of the use of an ancient source for the Book of Samuel due to the use of an archaic term.
*Khirbet Qeiyafa ostracon – 10th century BC inscription – both the language it is written in and the translation are disputed. Was discovered in excavations near Israel's Elah valley.
*Tell es-Safi inscription (10th to mid 9th centuries BC) – Potsherd inscribed with the two names "alwt" and "wlt", etymologically related to the name Goliath and demonstrate that the name fits with the context of late-tenth/early-ninth-century BC Philistine culture. Found at Tell es-Safi, the traditional identification of Gath.
*Ophel pithos is a 3,000-year-old inscribed fragment of a ceramic jar found near Jerusalem's Temple Mount by archeologist Eilat Mazar. It is the earliest alphabetical inscription found in Jerusalem written in what was probably Proto-Canaanite script.Nir Hasson
"Israeli archaeologists dig up artifact from time of Kings David and Solomon"
''Haaretz'', 15 July 2013. Some scholars believe it to be an inscription of the type of wine that was held in a jar.
*Amman Citadel Inscription – 9th century BC inscription in the Ammonite language, one of the few surviving written records of Ammon.
*Melqart stele – (9th–8th century BC) William F. Albright identifies Bar-hadad with Ben-hadad I, who was a contemporary of the biblical Asa and Baasha.
* Ostraca House – (probably about 850 BC, at least prior to 750 BC) 64 legible ostraca found in the treasury of Ahab – written in early Hebrew.
*Deir Alla Inscription (c. 840–760 BC) 9th or 8th century BC inscription about a prophet named Balaam (cf. the Book of Numbers).
* Kuntillet Ajrud inscriptions – (9th–8th century BC) inscriptions in Phoenician script including references to Yahweh
*Sefire steles (8th century BC) – described as "the best extrabiblical source for West Semitic

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