Archaeologists digging south of Jerusalem found a stone carving containing the Hebrew ABCs (aleph-beth-gimels). Discovered at Tel Zayit, the stone was dated to the 10th century BCE, making it a very important find in the early history of written language. From the International Herald Tribune:
If the discoverers are right, the stone bears the oldest reliably dated example of an abecedary – the letters of the alphabet written out from beginning to end in their traditional sequence. Several scholars who have examined the inscription tend to support this view…
"All successive alphabets in the ancient world, including the Greek one, derive from this ancestor at Tel Zayit," (excavation director Ron Tappy) said.
