________________
208
THE ALPHABET
Early Canaanite Inscriptions and "Missing-Link" Theory The solution of the enigma may come from Palestine, where several middle and late Bronze Age inscriptions have recently been discovered. The importance of these documents in the history of the alphabet is paramount, but in my opinion it has been somewhat distorted by many scholars. I shall not now deal with the problem in greater detail; see my article on The Palestinian Inscriptions and the Origin of the Alphabet ("JOURN. OF THE AMER. ORIENT. SOCIETY," 1943).
MMA
Obvera
olbyd
şi foj
4
Reverse
Fig. 105-Early Canaanite inscriptions, I 1. The Gezer Potsherd. 2, The Shechem Plaque. 3. The Lachish Dagger. 4. The Tell el-Hesy inscription. 5. The Tell el-'Ajjul inscription. 6, The Beth Shemesh Ostracon
According to many eminent scholars, the writing used in the Palestinian Bronze Age inscriptions, termed for convenience the Early Canaanite script, "constitutes an important 'missing link' in the history of our own alphabet, representing the long-sought intermediate stage between the Sinaitic and the earliest known Phænician forms" (Gaster). This "missing link" theory, which has been endorsed by such scholars as Professor Albright ("we have now a bridge thrown across the gap between the protoSinaitic inscriptions and those of the Early Iron Age") completes
