Re: The archaeological evidence, slender as it is, on King David and Goliath

In message <065acd68-0e24-4aac-93f0-f058d16567fe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
David <pchristainsen@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

But, I ask how scientists know that it dates to
the 9th cent BC.

The style of the writing.

Thank-you. I agree with you because in my understanding there
is absolutely no scientific way to date stone.

There are various methods of determining when stone was buried (ie. when it
was last exposed to light) and how old any patina on it might be or even how
old the actual stone is (though that isn't much help in archaeology!)

None of those apply to the Moabite stone because it wasn't buried but was
standing in its original location when it was discovered and the treatment
it received both by the people who made the squeeze and by the Arabs who
broke it up effectively dealt with any patina!

The style of the writing is a rough guide to the age, but as the number of
examples of Moabite writing are pretty small, it has to be by comparison
with Hebrew and other alphabetic inscriptions from Palestine. Basically the
style of writing is merely confirmation of the date that can be assigned on
the basis of the internal evidence of the inscription itself.

Despite the nonsense spouted by Matt the Pratt and his various hangers-on,
scholars have no problem with the idea that the Mesha of the inscription is
the Mesha referred to in the Bible and the revolt described on the stone is
the same as the revolt mentioned in the Bible.

Ken Down

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