The Alphabetic “Scribe” of the Lachish Jar Inscription and the Hieratic Tradition in the Early Iron Age

Abstract

The recently published 12th century b.c.e. jar inscription from Lachish was described as “undecipherable.” This article offers a plausible interpretation suggesting a mixed inscription using linear alphabetic and an adaptation of the hieratic Egyptian accounting tradition. The inscription thus would stand at a transition point—namely, when linear alphabetic was beginning to be used administratively and when the Egyptian hieratic tradition was being adopted by alphabetic scribes.