The Importance of Bible Artifacts Found Outside the Trench: The Moabite Stone

A product of archaeological looting, the Mesha Stele, or Moabite Stone, provides yet another instance of the value of unprovenanced Biblical artifacts, that is, Bible artifacts found outside of a professional excavation. Although the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) and the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) have banned the publication of articles and the presentation of papers about unprovenanced objects and Biblical artifacts in an attempt to curb archaeological looting and forgery of Bible artifacts found in Israel and Jordan, other scholars believe that Biblical artifacts found without a stratified context are by no means worthless.

The Mesha Stele, or Moabite Stone, is one of many unprovenanced Biblical artifacts found by Bedouin in the process of archaeological looting. After the pieces were reunited and the inscription translated, scholars recognized an episode similar to one in the Bible. Artifacts found by Bedouin and sold to the antiquities market make up a high percentage of unprovenanced Biblical artifacts. Photo: Les Monuments

This 3-foot-high black basalt Moabite Stone was first brought to the attention of scholars in 1868 by Bedouin living east of the Jordan River and just north of the Arnon River. After several failed negotiations to purchase it, the Mesha Stele was broken into dozens of pieces and scattered among the Bedouin. In the 1870s several of the fragments were recovered by scholars and reconstructed—comprising only two-thirds of the original Moabite Stone. A paper imprint (called a squeeze) that had been taken of the intact inscription allowed scholars to fill in the missing text.^*

Even in its fragmentary condition, the 34 lines of Phoenician script (also called paleo-Hebrew) on the Mesha Stela constituted the longest monumental inscription on a Bible artifact found in Palestine, making the Mesha Stele a key example of the value of Biblical artifacts found outside professional excavations, often via archaeological looting. The inscription, which dates to the ninth century B.C., is a victory stela set up to commemorate the triumph of the rebellious Moabite vassal king Mesha over the Israelite king and his armies (thus the names Mesha Stele or Moabite Stone). The Bible records a similar episode in 2 Kings 3, but not surprisingly, each account is much more flattering to its own author than the other.

The Mesha Stele, one of the most valuable Biblical artifacts found due to archaeological looting, also helped scholars clarify the tribal land allotments among the northern tribes of Israel.

Read more about Bible artifacts found outside a stratified context, often as the result of archaeological looting, in the BAS Library:

^* See Siegfried H. Horn,“Why the Moabite Stone Was Blown to Pieces,” BAR, May/June 1986.

See also Finds or Fakes, “Defending the Study of Unprovenanced Artifacts: An Interview with Othmar Keel,” BAR, July/August 2005.

Permalink: http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-artifacts/artifacts-and-the-bible/the-importance-of-bible-artifacts-found-outside-the-trench-the-moabite-stone/