Biblical Archaeology Review

Shimon Ilani, Amnon Rosenfeld, Howard R. Feldman, Wolfgang E. Krumbein and Joel Kronfeld, “Archaeometric Analysis of the ‘Jehoash Inscription’ Tablet,” Journal of Archaeological Science 35 (2008), pp. 2966–2972.

Hershel Shanks, Jerusalem: An Archaeological Biography (New York: Random House, 1995).

Hershel Shanks, Jerusalem’s Temple Mount: From Solomon to the Golden Dome (New York: Continuum, 2007).

Hershel Shanks, “An Incised Handle from Hazor Depicting a Syro-Hittite Deity,” Israel Exploration Journal 23, no. 4 (1973), p. 234.

Gabriel Barkay, Andrew G. Vaughn, Marilyn J. Lundberg and Bruce Zuckerman, “The Amulets from Ketef Hinnom: A New Edition and Evaluation,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 334 (2004), pp. 41–71. See also Gabriel Barkay, Marilyn J. Lundberg, Andrew G. Vaughn, Bruce Zuckerman and Kenneth Zuckerman, “The Challenges of Ketef Hinnom: Using Advanced Technologies to Reclaim the Earliest Biblical Texts and Their Context,” Near Eastern Archaeology 66 (2003), pp. 162–171.

Gabriel Barkay, “The Priestly Benediction on Silver Plaques from Ketef Hinnom in Jerusalem,” Tel Aviv 19 (1992), pp. 139–192.

Gabriel Barkay, “The Priestly Benediction on the Ketef Hinnom Plaques,” Cathedra 52 (1989), pp. 37–76 (Hebrew).

Marina Rosovsky, David Bigelajzen and Dodo Shenhav, “Cleaning and Unrolling the Silver Plaques,” Tel Aviv 19 (1992), pp. 192–194.

I would like to express my thanks to Professor Patricia Smith of the Hebrew University’s Medical School for this information.

The angular cornice at the meeting point of the walls and the ceiling is mentioned by the name tephahot in 1 Kings 7:9. The term means “hand breadth,” which is 1/7 of a cubit (7.5 cm)—the exact height of the cornices discovered in the burial caves. In Jerusalem, there are about 35 burial chambers from the Iron Age which have the cornice preserved.