Mnamon

Ancient writing systems in the Mediterranean

A critical guide to electronic resources

Proto-Canaanite

- ca. 1700-950 B.C.


Online resources



Web sites of general interest

  1. PROEL - Escritura Proto-cananea
    Institutional web-gate of the Promotora Española de Lingüística, acknowledged by the Spanish Ministerio del Interior, dedicated to information on languages and writing systems. The section devoted to the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet contains brief information on Proto-Canaanite writing and some illustrations of the inscriptions

Online documents

  1. An Inscribed Pithos from the Ophel, Jerusalem
    Article by E. Mazar, D. Ben-Shlomo, S. Ahituv on the Protocanaanite inscription from the Ophel, Jerusalem
  2. C. Rollston, The Phoenician Script of the Tel Zayit Abecedary and Putative Evidence for Israelite Literacy, 2008
    An article about the Tel Zayit alphabet and others early Iron Age inscriptions, with comparative tables of signs.
  3. G.J. Hamilton (2015), Two Methodological Issues Concerning the Expanded Collection of Early Alphabetic Texts, pp. 127-156.
    Article with an in-depth discussion on the Proto-canaanite inscription from The Ophel, Jerusalem.
  4. B. Sass, The Khirbet Qeiyafa Ostracon in its Setting, 2017
    Article, within a volume devoted to Khirbet Qeiyafa, on the inscription on ostrakon found there in the context of other Proto-Canaanite inscriptions
  5. C.A. Rollston et al. (2021), The Jerubba‘al Inscription from Khirbet al-Ra‘i: a Proto-Canaanite (Early Alphabetic) inscription
    Article on a Proto-Canaanite inscription written in ink on a jug. It was unearthed in 2019 at Khirbet al-Ra‘i, located 4 km west of Tel Lachish.

Museums and collections

  1. Israel Museum - Jerusalem
    The Israel Museum (Jerusalem) houses a rich collection of inscribed objects with Protocacaanite script. Some photos of these objects are available on line at the "Proto-Canaanite" section.