Dr. Ayala Zilberstein, excavation director on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, holding the rare sealing. (photo credit: Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority.)

First Assyrian Cuneiform Inscription from First Temple Period Discovered in Jerusalem

A fragment of pottery no bigger than a coin has revealed something Jerusalem has never seen before. The 2.5-centimeter shard bears Akkadian cuneiform script—an Assyrian inscription from roughly 2,700 years ago, marking the first discovery of its kind within the ancient city. The Israel Antiquities Authority and the City of David Foundation pulled the fragment

Ancient Cylinder Seals May Have Led to the First Writing

Writing is one of the most important inventions in the entire history of civilization. The ability to record conversations, agreements and stories is literally what separates history from prehistory, and those civilizations who wrote things down captured their cultural identity for all time in doing so. And now, in a new study published in Antiquity,