Colless, Brian E. Proto-alphabetic inscriptions from the Wadi Arabah Antiguo Oriente: Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Historia del Antiguo Oriente Vol. 8, 2010 Este documento está disponible en la Biblioteca Digital de la Universidad Católica Argentina, repositorio institucional desarrollado por la Biblioteca Central “San Benito Abad”. Su objetivo es difundir y preservar la producción intelectual de la institución. La Biblioteca posee la autorización del autor para su divulgación en línea. Cómo citar el documento: Colless, Brian E. “Proto-alphabetic inscriptions from the Wadi Arabah”[en línea]. Antiguo Oriente: Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Historia del Antiguo Oriente 8 (2010). Disponible en: http://bibliotecadigital.uca.edu.ar/repositorio/revistas/proto-alphabetic-inscriptions-wadi-arabah.pdf [Fecha de consulta:..........] (Se recomienda indicar fecha de consulta al final de la cita. Ej: [Fecha de consulta: 19 de agosto de 2010]). PROTO-ALPHABETIC INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE WADI ARABAH* BRIAN E. COLLESS
[email protected] Massey University Palmerston North, New Zealand Summary: Proto-alphabetic Inscriptions from the Wadi Arabah Three early West Semitic inscriptions from the Arabah valley are studied here, all of them apparently connected with the Egyptian copper-mining activity in the region, notably at Timna, in the period of the Ramessides. The most striking detail in these texts is a sign corresponding to an Egyptian hieroglyph (N6B ) which depicts two serpents guarding the sun-disc, and another with one serpent (N6 ,); these never appear on conventional tables of early alphabetic letters; this leads to a critical reappraisal of current identifications of the original picture-signs, and elaboration of a new system of interpreting early Canaanite inscriptions, involving recognition that the signs could sometimes stand for whole words and could also be used as rebuses.