The Tel Dan Inscription
February 2023,
From various sources.
The project surveyor for the Tel Dan archaeological site in Israel, Gila Cook, discovered ancient writing on one of the reused building stones in an old wall. The surface of the stone was polished on two sides, and the identified letters, BYTDWD, was clear and unmistakable.
The letters or inscription refers to the “The House of David” (the dark arrow pointing to the slightly whitened letters: BYTDWD).
This building stone can firmly be dated back to the 9th century BC due to an ash layer dated 733/722 BC caused by later Assyrian wars.
These ash layers are few and far between and remain every archaeologist’s dream, as anything sealed beneath them has to be dated earlier. As such, there is no chance of intrusion by later finds. While some historians have tried to explain the inscription away, most agree that it refers to the lineage of David, the second king of the unified kingdom and possibly the most important ruler in Israel’s history. The presence of the same letters, BYTDWD, on the Mesha Stele/Moabite Rock, also dated from the 9th century, solidifies the existence and, indeed, the lineage of King David.
