Abstract
The writer discusses the results of a petrographic study of clay cuneiform tablets revealed at Hazor and of two tablets from el-Amarna. The study aimed to supplement textual interpretation with information regarding the tablets' possible provenance. Petrography was selected as a main method of research because of the presence of large collections of comparative material from many major sites in the Levant and good geological mapping of the whole area, which allows many fabrics to be related to their geological context, thereby facilitating the determination of provenance. Moreover, the study of many of the Amarna tablets by precisely the same method allowed the establishment of a petrographic database for clay cuneiform tablets from a range of locations in the ancient Near East, producing a database that could be used directly for the study of the documents from Hazor. The writer charts the results of the study, including the sampling method used, the petrographical analysis of each piece, and any equivalents found in the Amarna archive, going on to discuss the findings.
| Original language | English GB |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 29-42 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Israel Exploration Journal |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue number | 1/2 |
| State | Published - 1 Jan 2000 |
Keywords
- Hazor (Extinct city)
- Israel
- Tel Aviv (Israel)
- Knudtzon, J. A.
- Tablets (Paleography)
- Clay -- Analysis
- Bronze Age
- Cuneiform inscriptions
- Cuneiform tablets
- Clay tablets
- Ceramics
- Inscriptions
- Cuneiform writing