The site of Kh. Qeiyafa was a fortress in the 10th century BCE and is located between Azekah and Socoh in the Elah Valley. A very impressive site which has now offered up a potentially monumentally important inscription. An ostracon (sherd with ink writing) was found with 50 letters in Proto-Canaanite divided over five lines. The words “judge”, “slave”, and “king” have all been deciphered. For a thorough set of links go to Todd Bolen’s blog and for a more detailed, scholarly discussion of the inscription go to the ANE-2 list on yahoo.
Update: SNL Weekend update had a joke about the find, calling the investigation CS:Oy. Somewhat clever although they referred to the location as the place where David fought Goliath.
