Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- I INTRODUCTION TO THE PROBLEMS
- II SOME METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES
- III AROUND THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN IN THE IRON AGE
- IV JORDAN IN THE IRON AGE
- V ISRAEL IN THE IRON AGE
- VI HISTORICAL CONSIDERATIONS
- 23 Stamp-Seal Amulets and Early Iron Age Chronology: An update
- 24 Problems in the Paleographic Dating of Inscriptions
- 25 Some Methodological Reflections on Chronology and History-Writing
- 26 David Did It, Others Did Not: The creation of Ancient Israel
- VII CONCLUSION
- Index
24 - Problems in the Paleographic Dating of Inscriptions
from VI - HISTORICAL CONSIDERATIONS
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- I INTRODUCTION TO THE PROBLEMS
- II SOME METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES
- III AROUND THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN IN THE IRON AGE
- IV JORDAN IN THE IRON AGE
- V ISRAEL IN THE IRON AGE
- VI HISTORICAL CONSIDERATIONS
- 23 Stamp-Seal Amulets and Early Iron Age Chronology: An update
- 24 Problems in the Paleographic Dating of Inscriptions
- 25 Some Methodological Reflections on Chronology and History-Writing
- 26 David Did It, Others Did Not: The creation of Ancient Israel
- VII CONCLUSION
- Index
Summary
Abstract
Recent attempts to re-date important inscriptions such as the Siloam Tunnel inscription, the Gezer Calendar, and certain Arad inscriptions illustrate fundamental problems with paleography as a method for dating inscriptions. The so-called science of paleography often relies on circular reasoning because there is insufficient data to draw precise conclusions about dating. Scholars also tend to oversimplify diachronic development, assuming models of simplicity rather than complexity. Because of the insufficient number of inscriptions, scholars often compare inscriptions from different media or from quite different archaeological and geographic contexts. The problems with paleographic dating of early Hebrew inscriptions point to the need for external controls.
The present conference volume was occasioned, at least in part, by a crisis in the dating of early Iron Age evidence from archaeology and texts. The assured results of scholarship, particularly biblical criticism and archaeology, have come under increasing assault. The problem of dating also extends to the so-called science of paleography—particularly to the typological dating of Hebrew letters. The critique of the status quo has included claims of forgery as well as wholesale revision of the long-accepted dating of many inscriptions (e.g. Rollston 2003; Vaughn 1999). A quick survey of some of the recent use and misuse of paleographic dating underscores the need for external controls such as have been traditionally provided by archaeology. Now, however, the dating of archaeological strata—in the 10th and 9th centuries BCE (i.e. the Iron IIA period)—has also been the topic of increased debate.
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- The Bible and Radiocarbon DatingArchaeology, Text and Science, pp. 405 - 412Publisher: Acumen PublishingPrint publication year: 2005