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LiveScience
LiveScience
Laura Geggel

'I screamed out of excitement': 2,700-year-old cuneiform text found near Temple Mount — and it reveals the Kingdom of Judah had a late payment to the Assyrians

Eliyahu Yannai, City of David Foundation. Photographers: Eliyahu Yanai, City of David.

A 2,700-year-old pottery sherd discovered near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is the first known correspondence between the Assyrian Kingdom to the Kingdom of Judah ever found in the city.

The 1-inch-long (2.5 centimeters) sherd (the term archaeologists use to describe fragments of pottery) is covered with cuneiform text and dates to the First Temple period (1000 to 586 B.C.). It appears to contain a royal correspondence from the Assyrian Kingdom to the Kingdom of Judah demanding to know the status of a late tribute payment.

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