2,700-year-old inscribed papyrus, a letter to ‘Ishmael’ written in early Hebrew script, was unveiled by the Israel Antiquities Authority recently.

The inscription is composed of four fragmented lines, the first of which begins with the intriguing command “To Ishmael, send….” and then stops.

According to epigraphical analysis as well as carbon dating of a small piece of the papyrus, it is from the late seventh or early sixth century BCE, the last days of the Kingdom of Judah.

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) called it an “extremely rare document.” It likely was preserved over the centuries in a cave in the Judean Desert, where the dry climate “enables the preservation of the papyri,” IAA said.

Joe Uziel, director of the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Judean Desert Scrolls Unit, called it a rare find.

He said, “Whilst we have thousands of scroll fragments dating from the Second Temple period, we have only three documents, including this newly found one, from the First Temple period, each new document sheds further light on the literacy and the administration of the First Temple period.”

“In order to persuade the owner to transfer the fragile document to Israel, where it would be conserved in climate-controlled conditions, he was invited to visit the Israel Antiquities Authority Judean Desert Scroll Department’s Conservation Laboratory in Jerusalem,” the news release said. “After the visit, the owner was convinced that here were the best conditions to conserve and research the rare document, and he generously gave it to the Israel Antiquities Authority,” he added

This 4-centimetre-high, 5-centimeter-wide (1.5-inch x 2 inches) fragment joins only two other known contemporary papyrus fragments inscribed with early Hebrew in the Land of Israel to date.

Prof. Shmuel Ahituv of the Israel Prize-winning Ben-Gurion University will deliver a Hebrew-language lecture on the papyrus at the First Judean Desert Conference at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem on Thursday, September 15.

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