List of inscriptions in biblical archaeology

The following is a list of inscribed artifacts, items made or given shape by humans, that are significant to biblical archaeology. These table lists inscriptions which are of particular significance to the study of biblical chronology. The table lists the following information about each artifact: Name In English Current location Museum or site Discovered Date and location of discovery Date Proposed date of creation of artifact Writing Script used in inscription (if any) Significance Reason for significance to biblical archeology Refs ANET and COS references, and link to editio princeps (EP), if known Execration texts – earliest references to many Biblical locations Papyrus Brooklyn 35.1446 – A document that lists the names of 45 individuals, including a Canaanite woman named "Šp-ra." Scholars assume that this is a hieroglyphic transliteration of the Hebrew name "Shiphrah," which also appears in Exodus 1:15–21. However, the document dates to c. 1833–1743 BCE (centuries before the biblical Shiphra would have lived). Ipuwer Papyrus – poem describing Egypt as afflicted by natural disasters and in a state of chaos. The document is dated to around 1250 BC but the content is thought to be earlier, dated back to the Middle Kingdom, though no earlier than the late Twelfth Dynasty. Once thought to describe the biblical Exodus, it is now considered the world's earliest known treatise on political ethics, suggesting that a good king is one who controls unjust officials, thus carrying out the will of the gods. Berlin pedestal relief – considered by many modern scholars to contain the earliest historic reference to ancient Israel. Experts remain divided on this hypothesis. Creation myths and flood myths – recorded on the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Atra-Hasis tablets, the Enûma Eliš, the Eridu Genesis and the Barton Cylinder Law tablets – ancient Near East legal tablets: Code of Hammurabi, Laws of Eshnunna, the Code of Ur-Nammu, king of Ur (c. 2050 BC), the Laws of Eshnunna (c. 1930 BC) and the codex of Lipit-Ishtar of Isin (c.