Archaeologists in Israel have identified a very rare Canaanite inscription on fragments of a pottery jar from the reign of King David (10th century BCE).

The 3,000-year-old jar, broken into many sherds, was unearthed several years ago at an archaeological site near Khirbet Qeiyafa in Elah Valley, southwest of Jerusalem.

“Letters written in ancient Canaanite script discerned on several sherds sparked our curiosity,” said Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist Saar Ganor.

“The intensive restoration solved the riddle: the jar was incised with the inscription Eshbaʽal ben Badaʽ.”

“This is the first time that the name Eshbaʽal has appeared on an ancient inscription in the country,” said Hebrew University’s Professor Yosef Garfinkel and Dr. Saar Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

“Eshbaʽal, the son of King Saul, who briefly ruled over Israel at the same time as King David, is known from the Bible.”

“He was assassinated and decapitated, and his head was brought to David in Hebron (2 Samuel: 3–4).”

“It is noteworthy that the name Eshbaʽal is mentioned in the Bible, and now also in the archaeological record, only during the time of the reign of King David, in the first half of the 10th century BCE; this name does not appear later in the First Temple period.”

“The correlation between the biblical source and the archaeological find suggests that this name was only common in this early period.”

“The name Bedaʽ is unique and does not occur in ancient inscriptions or in the Bible.”

The fact that the name of Eshbaʽal was incised on a jar suggests that he was an important person.

“He may have been the owner of a large agricultural estate and the produce collected there was packed and transported in jars marked with his name,” the archaeologists said.

“This seems to be clear evidence of social stratification and the creation of an established economic class, a process that took place at the time of the formation of the Kingdom of Judah.”

“In the Book of Samuel there was apparently reluctance to use the name Eshbaʽal, which was reminiscent of the Canaanite storm god Baʽal, and the original name was therefore changed to Ish-Bosheth, but the original name of Eshbaʽal was nonetheless preserved in the Book of Chronicles,” they added.

“Thus, for example, the name of the judge Gideon ben Joash was also changed from Jeruba‘al to Jerubesheth (2 Samuel 11).”