Samaria Ostraca

Overview

In 1910 the Harvard expedition found inscribed potsherds in rooms on the east side of the courtyard of the Israelite palace at Samaria. D. G. Lyon published them in the 1924 report. They are short ink notes, each opening with a regnal year (9, 10 or 15), and they record deliveries of 'a jar of old wine' or 'a jar of fine (washed) oil' from named places or clan districts to named men.

Seventeen names follow the preposition 'from'. Lyon pointed out that six of them (Abiezer, Helek, Shechem, Shemida, Noah and Hoglah) are the clan divisions of Manasseh listed in Joshua 17:2-3 and Numbers 26:30-33. The personal names include Yahweh-names ending in -yau (Gaddiyau, Shemaryau, Yeda'yau, Abedyau) and Baal-names (Ba'ala, Meriba'al, Abiba'al, Ba'alzamar).

A 2020 algorithmic handwriting study of 31 of the texts, using Harvard's original negatives, concluded they were most likely written by two scribes working in Samaria, not by many writers out in the villages.

In its own words

"In the 10th year. To Shemaryau. From Be'er-yam. Jar[s ?] of old [wine]. Rage' son of Elisha' ... 2; 'Uzza son of ---- 1; ... Ba'ala son of Elisha' [1] ..."D. G. Lyon in G. A. Reisner, C. S. Fisher and D. G. Lyon, Harvard Excavations at Samaria 1908-1910, vol. I (1924), p. 228, Ostracon No. 1

What the evidence shows

• Findspot: 'In the eastern part of the courtyard in rooms 401, 416, 417, 419, 470-474, in the lowest part of the debris of occupation' (Lyon 1924, p. 227).
• Every text begins with a regnal year: years 9 and 10 (the 'old wine' and 'fine oil' dockets) and year 15 (dockets naming clan districts such as Shemida, Helek, Abiezer, Hoglah, Noah).
• Formula types, per Lyon: 'In the 10th year. Wine of Kerm ha-Tell for a jar of fine oil' (Nos. 43, 54, 55?); 'A jar of old wine' (Nos. 4-10, 12, 14, 15, year 9); 'A jar of fine oil' (Nos. 16-19, year 10).
• Six of the seventeen 'from' names match Manasseh clan names in Josh 17:2-3 / Num 26:30-33: Abiezer, Helek, Shechem, Shemida, Noah, Hoglah.
• Theophoric names: Yahwistic -yau names (Gaddiyau, Shemaryau, Yeda'yau, Marnayau, Abedyau) alongside Baal names (Ba'ala, Meriba'al, Abiba'al, Ba'alzamar).
• Lyon judged the letter forms would place them in 'the 8th or 9th century B.C.' on epigraphic grounds alone.
• The ostraca are written on already-broken sherds, some shaped to fit and written across the wheel marks, so they are office notes and not jar labels (except Nos. 62-63).
• Faigenbaum-Golovin et al. 2020: 31 texts analysed; most likely two hands.

Open questions

• Which king's years 9, 10 and 15? Anson Rainey (BASOR 272, 1988, 'Toward a Precise Date for the Samaria Ostraca') argued for a specific early-8th-century placement. Faigenbaum-Golovin et al. (PLOS ONE 2020) list the only Israelite kings with 15+ years (Ahab, Jehu, Jehoahaz, Joash, Jeroboam II) and exclude the 9th-century kings because proto-Canaanite script was still in use then, leaving Joash or Jeroboam II. Lyon (1924) only bracketed the texts to the life of the palace, 'about 865 to 722 B.C.'
• Floor or fill? Lyon (1924) put them 'in the lowest part of the debris of occupation' on the courtyard floor. Rainey (1988), as cited by Faigenbaum-Golovin et al., treats them as coming from a fill laid down before a building went up. Ron E. Tappy's re-study of the excavation records (The Archaeology of the Ostraca House at Israelite Samaria, ASOR Annual 70, 2016) takes a different view of that context. The difference affects whether the building dates the ostraca or the ostraca date the building.
• Were the men after 'to' (l-) the recipients or the owners? Yigael Yadin (IEJ 9, 1959, 'Recipients or Owners?') took on that question. Hermann Michael Niemann (Tel Aviv 35, 2008) reread the texts as evidence of a king-clan relationship, not a simple tax system.
• Where were they written? The 2020 algorithmic study found about two hands, which points to scribes at Samaria rather than writing spread across the villages. The result depends on the image-based letter reconstructions, which the authors published on figshare.

Sources

1. G. A. Reisner, C. S. Fisher and D. G. Lyon, Harvard Excavations at Samaria, 1908-1910, vol. I: Text (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1924), 'Israelite Inscriptions', pp. 227-246 link editio princeps
2. S. Faigenbaum-Golovin, A. Shaus, B. Sober, E. Turkel, E. Piasetzky and I. Finkelstein, 'Algorithmic handwriting analysis of the Samaria inscriptions illuminates bureaucratic apparatus in biblical Israel', PLOS ONE 15/1 (2020): e0227452, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0227452 link study
3. Anson F. Rainey, 'Toward a Precise Date for the Samaria Ostraca', BASOR 272 (1988): 69-74, doi:10.2307/1356786 link study
4. Ron E. Tappy, The Archaeology of the Ostraca House at Israelite Samaria: Epigraphic Discoveries in Complicated Contexts (Annual of ASOR 70; Boston: ASOR, 2016); reviewed by N. Franklin, JEMAHS 6/1-2 (2018): 148-151, doi:10.5325/jeasmedarcherstu.6.1-2.0148 link excavation report
5. Hermann Michael Niemann, 'A New Look at the Samaria Ostraca: The King-Clan Relationship', Tel Aviv 35/2 (2008): 249-266, doi:10.1179/033443508788921311 link study
6. Ivan T. Kaufman, 'The Samaria Ostraca: An Early Witness to Hebrew Writing', Biblical Archaeologist 45/4 (1982): 229-239, doi:10.2307/3209768 link study

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