Zayit stone abecedary

In 2005 an abecedary was found on the Zayit Stone at Tel Zayit. It is believed to date from about 1000 BC. Below is the order of letters as inscribed on the stone. I have included the early Hebrew glyphs in the table as they most closely match the stone glyphs. There are some caveats as mentioned below.

	Modern order				Zayit stone
Order	Name	square	early	Latin	Name	square	early	Latin	Comment
1	Alef	א	𐤀‎	ʾ	Alef	א	𐤀‎	ʾ
2	Bet	ב	𐤁‎	b	Bet	ב	𐤁‎	b
3	Gimel	ג	𐤂‎	g	Gimel	ג	𐤂‎	g
4	Dalet	ד	𐤃‎	d	Dalet	ד	𐤃‎	d
5	He	ה	𐤄‎	h	Waw	ו	𐤅‎	w
6	Waw	ו	𐤅‎	w	He	ה	𐤄‎	h
7	Zayin	ז	𐤆‎	z	Het	ח	𐤇‎	kh
8	Het	ח	𐤇‎	kh	Zayin	ז	𐤆‎	z
9	Tet	ט	𐤈‎	t	Tet	ט	𐤈‎	t
10	Yod	י	𐤉‎	y	Yod	י	𐤉‎	y
11	Kaf	כ	𐤊‎	k	Lamed	ל	𐤋‎	l	?
12	Lamed	ל	𐤋‎	l	Kaf	כ	𐤊‎	k	?
13	Mem	מ	𐤌‎	m	Mem	מ	𐤌‎	m
14	Nun	נ	𐤍‎	n	Nun	נ	𐤍‎	n
15	Samekh	ס	𐤎‎	s	Samekh	ס	𐤎‎	s
16	Ayin	ע	𐤏‎	ʿ	Pe	פ	𐤐‎	p	faint
17	Pe	פ	𐤐‎	p	Ayin	ע	𐤏‎	ʿ	faint
18	Tsadi	צ	𐤑‎	ts	Tsadi	צ	𐤑‎	ts	faint
19	Qof	ק	𐤒‎	q	Qof	ק	𐤒‎	q	faint
20	Resh	ר	𐤓‎	r	Resh	ר	𐤓‎	r	faint
21	Shin	ש	𐤔‎	s	Shin	ש	𐤔‎	s
22	Tav	ת	𐤕‎	t	Tav	ת	𐤕‎	t	faint

• Letters he and waw are reversed, this has not been seen previously.
• Letters zayin and het are reversed, this may have been noted elsewhere.
• Letters kaf and lamed are reversed. The authors believe this to be a mistake because there is a gap following the kaf and what appears to be a cross (X) suggesting an error was made then recognised by the scribe.
• Letters ayin and pe are reversed. The letters are faint and difficult to see. This inversion has been seen elsewhere.

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Tappy et al. An Abecedary of the Mid-Tenth Century B.C.E. from the Judaean Shephelah. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. 2006.

Ancient Hebrew text found

If you haven't seen this, archaeologists found a potsherd with a text in ancient Hebrew characters.

The glyphs have been described as proto-Canaanite, though the era is claimed to be that of King David c. 1000 BC. Paleo-Hebrew was thought to have formed into square Hebrew near the time of Ezra/ Nehemiah at the end of the exile. Below is the first 3 paleo-Hebrew glyphs (alef, bet, gimel; a, b, g).