Biblical Archaeology Review

Downward ticks on the lower horizontal strokes of the zayin are probably present, though the traces are faint (Deutsch has not shown them on his drawing). The curved, lowest horizontal of the he of ḥzqyhw is characteristic of the Siloam script. The yod is large, with no tendency to suppress or elevate the lowest horizontal (as in seventh- and sixth-century scripts). The ḥet is a box form, as occasionally seen in the l’melekh handles, with little breakthrough of the verticals.

See the discussion in Deutsch, Messages from the Past, p. 163, no. 199. I am indebted to him for photographs of the two bullae and for two drawings made with access to the original bullae. In his drawing of the new Hezekiah bulla, he has seen some detail I do not have on my own drawing, which was made from poor photographs. Hence I have substituted his drawing for mine. His reconstruction of the Avigad bulla is bold but I believe accurate.

See Avigad, Hebrew Bullae from the Time of Jeremiah (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1986), p. 110, no. 199.

Nahman Avigad and Benjamin Sass, Corpus of West Semitic Stamp Seals (Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities/Israel Exploration Society/Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University, 1997), no. 1067; and Robert Deutsch and Michael Heltzer, Forty New Ancient West Semitic Inscriptions (Tel Aviv: Archaeological Center Publication, 1994), no. 24.

Finkelstein, “United Monarchy,” p. 183.

Finkelstein claims that the wood may originally have been used in another, older structure, therefore yielding a date earlier than the construction of the building. He recognizes, however, that in the end, carbon 14 dates may settle the argument. (“Rejoinder,” p. 170).

Finkelstein, “Rejoinder,” p. 172.

Israel Finkelstein, “The Archaeology of the United Monarchy: An Alternative View,” Levant 28 (1996), pp. 177–187; Amihai Mazar, “Iron Age Chronology: A Reply to I. Finkelstein,” Levant 29 (1997), pp. 155–165; Finkelstein, “Bible Archaeology or Archaeology of Palestine in the Iron Age? A Rejoinder,” Levant 30 (1998), pp. 167–174.

The Selz Foundation Hazor Excavations in Memory of Yigael Yadin is a joint project of the Hebrew University and Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain, sponsored by the Israel Exploration Society. Photos and illustrations credited to Studio Sztulman-Kessel, Jerusalem; Maria Teresa Rubiato, of Universidad Complutense; and staff member Ruhama Bonfil appear by courtesy of the Selz Foundation Hazor Excavations.