Archaeological explorations along the North Sinai corridor unearthed two locally manufactured (fragmentary) vessels of early 19th Dynasty “beer jars” stamped with the cartouches of Seti I alongside a hieroglyph of a ship. A second example of a royal ship with the throne names of Seti I and Haremhab was recorded on an Egyptian amphora handle…
The Miners Who Invented the Alphabet – A Response to Christopher Rollston
Was the alphabet an invention of elite Northwest Semitic speakers, officials in the Egyptian apparatus “quite capable with the complex Egyptian,” as recently suggested by Christopher Rollston? Or was the alphabet born at the social and cultural fringe? This article reconstructs the possible milieu in which the alphabet was invented: in the mining camps in…