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A particularly interesting discovery in this layer is that of a partially preserved pottery bowl with an incomplete inscription. This fascinating find will be presented at the 14th City of David Research Conference that will be held on Thursday, August 29, 2023 in the City of David.
The closest name in the Bible to the name preserved in the inscription on the clay bowl, is Zechariah ben Benaya. This name appears in 2 Chronicles, chapter 20, verse 14, where it is told about Yahaziel ben Zechariah ben Benaya, a Levite of the sons of Assaf, who prophesied before King Jehoshaphat before the King went out war with the Ammonites and the Moabites.
That being said, due to missing letters in the inscription, it is impossible to know whether this is indeed the name, and whether the owner of the bowl is the person mentioned in the Bible.
Archaeologists Dr. Joe Uziel and Nahshon Zenton of the Antiquities Authority, who discovered the bowl, date the letters engraved on the pottery to the 8th-7th century BCE, and associate the bowl with the time between Hezekiah’s reign and the destruction of Jerusalem during the reign of King Zedekiah. The archaeologists also add that the engraving of the inscription on the bowl was made before it was fired – that is: the inscription decorated the rim of the entire bowl, and was not written on the clay after the vessel was broken.
The inscription’s purpose is unclear, but the archaeologists claim that the bowl may have contained an offering, and it is likely that it had the name of the person bringing the offering or, alternatively, the name of the recipient.