Archaeologists working in Jerusalem have discovered a stone column with an inscription mentioning Jerusalem that dates to 100 BC. The inscription is now on display at the Israel Museum, and scholars are debating whether it should be labeled as written in Hebrew or Aramaic. From The Times of Israel:
The earliest stone inscription bearing the full spelling of the modern Hebrew word for Jerusalem was unveiled on Tuesday at the Israel Museum, in the capital.
While any inscription dating from the Second Temple period is of note, the 2,000-year-old three-line inscription on a waist-high column — reading “Hananiah son of Dodalos of Jerusalem” — is exceptional, as it is the first known stone carving of the word “Yerushalayim,” which is how the Israeli capital’s name is pronounced in Hebrew today.
The stone column was discovered earlier this year at a salvage excavation of a massive Hasmonean Period Jewish artisans’ village near the Jerusalem International Convention Center [Binyanei HaUma], at what is now the entrance to the modern city, by an Israel Antiquities Authority team headed by archaeologist Danit Levi.
The discovery is reported on the official press release, IAA’s Facebook page, and The Jerusalem Post.
The Arutz-7 story includes a 2-minute video from the press conference.
HT: Joseph Lauer