Bible Synapse
Samaria Ostraca
Inscription · first half of the 8th century BC · Israel and Judah
See it on the map and timeline
- Date
- first half of the 8th century BC (the writing on the sherds)
- Found
- Sebastia (ancient Samaria), West Bank, 1910. Found in 1910 by Harvard University’s expedition under George A. Reisner, in fill laid beneath the floors of a building the excavators named the Ostraca House.
- Now
- Istanbul Archaeology Museums, Istanbul
- Passages
- Joshua 17:2–3, Numbers 26:30–33, 1 Kings 16:24
What it is
About a hundred potsherds with short notes in ink in old Hebrew script, of which some sixty can be read. Each records a delivery of aged wine or fine oil to the capital, usually with a regnal year (the 9th, 10th, 15th or 17th), the village and clan it came from, and a person’s name.
How it connects to the Bible
Several clan districts on the sherds, among them Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shemida, Hoglah and Noah, appear in the Bible as families of the tribe of Manasseh (Joshua 17:2–3; Numbers 26:30–33). The ostraca show the royal administration of Israel at work in Samaria, the capital founded by Omri (1 Kings 16:24).
What scholars debate
Which king’s reign the years count from is debated; many favour Jeroboam II, others his father Joash.