ostraca

On the island of Elephantine, opposite Aswan and just below the first cataract in Egypt, several hundred Aramaic papyri and ostraca were discovered between 1893 and 1910.

Elephantine. 2009

The French discovered several hundred ostraca but only a dozen or so have so far been published.

Elephantine. 2009

Under the direction of Otto Rubensohn (1867 – 1964), the Germans discovered ostraca and papyri, particularly in their second season (1907), and these were promptly published by Eduard Sachau (1845 – 1930) in 1911.

Elephantine. 2009

He has written widely on the Aramaic papyri and ostraca stemming from the Jewish community of Elephantine, Egypt from the fifth century B.C.E. Articles by this author

Bezalel Porten. Jewish Women's Archive 2006

He further proposed that the ostraca written in Egyptian hieratic script found at Kadesh-barnea hint that in the late seventh century the site passed to the Egyptians.

The Bible Unearthed Israel Finkelstein 2001

At the fortress of Arad, a center of Judahite control and military operations in the south, a group of ostraca, or inscribed potsherds, were found in the rubble of the destruction containing the frantic orders for the movements of troops and transportation of food supplies.

The Bible Unearthed Israel Finkelstein 2001

At a special assembly, citizens cast potsherds or ostraca with an individual's name written on it as ballots.

c. The Rise of the Athenian Empire 2001

The famous Samaria ostraca, receipts for shipments of oil and wine delivered from the countryside to the capital city, represent a sophisticated system of credit and record keeping in which the produce of the hinterland was claimed by large landowners or by government tax officials who supervised the collection of the crop.

The Bible Unearthed Israel Finkelstein 2001

Three ostraca with south Arabian script were uncovered in the city of David.

The Bible Unearthed Israel Finkelstein 2001

The two seventh century forts in the deep south— Kadesh-barnea in the west and Haseva in the east—were identified as Judahite according to some pottery types and in the case of the former a few Hebrew ostraca, but mainly according to the idea of the great expansion of Judah in the time of Josiah.

The Bible Unearthed Israel Finkelstein 2001