Mount Ebal

The Mount Ebal site is at the center of ongoing debates about early Israelite religion, the date of Hebrew writing, and the historicity of the conquest narrative. If the curse tablet's reading is confirmed, it would be the earliest known Hebrew inscription and the oldest attestation of the name YHWH.

Mount Ebal rises to approximately 940 meters above sea level, north of the ancient city of Shechem (modern Nablus) in the central West Bank. Together with Mount Gerizim to the south, it frames the pass through which the main north-south road of the central hill country runs. In Deuteronomy 11:29 and 27:4-13, Moses commands the Israelites to build an altar on Mount Ebal and to pronounce blessings from Gerizim and curses from Ebal after entering the land. Joshua 8:30-35 records Joshua fulfilling this command.

Adam Zertal of the University of Haifa discovered the site during a comprehensive archaeological survey of the Manasseh territory. In 1980, he identified a large stone structure on a ridge on the northeastern slope of Mount Ebal, at an elevation of about 940 meters. He excavated the site from 1982 to 1989 over nine seasons.

The main structure is a rectangular stone installation measuring approximately 9 by 7 meters and standing about 3 meters high. It is built of undressed (unhewn) stones — consistent with Deuteronomy 27:5-6, which specifies that the altar must be built of "whole stones, on which no iron tool has been wielded." The structure was surrounded by a thin wall forming an outer enclosure, with two ramps leading up to the top. Inside the installation, Zertal found layers of ash, over 1,000 calcined (burned) animal bones (primarily young male sheep, goats, cattle, and fallow deer — all kosher species), pottery dating to Iron Age I (c. 1200-1140 BCE), and a few small artifacts.

Zertal identified the structure as an altar, specifically Joshua's altar described in Deuteronomy 27 and Joshua 8:30. His arguments were based on the structure's rectangular form with ramps (matching the altar design described in Exodus 20:25-26 and later in the Mishnah, Middot 3:1), the exclusive presence of kosher animal bones suggesting sacrificial practice, the unhewn stone construction, the absence of domestic architecture suggesting a non-residential sacred site, and the Iron Age I dating.

The identification was immediately controversial. Aharon Kempinski and others argued the structure was merely a farmhouse or watchtower. Benjamin Mazar countered that it was too large, too carefully constructed, and too anomalous in its assemblage to be domestic architecture. The debate has never been fully resolved, though Zertal's altar identification has gained more supporters over time, particularly after no comparable structure has been found at any other Iron Age I site.

In 2019, Scott Stripling of the Associates for Biblical Research began renewed excavations and analysis at the site. His team wet-sifted dump material from Zertal's original excavation, recovering small artifacts that the earlier methods had missed. The most spectacular find emerged in 2022: a small folded lead tablet, approximately 2 by 2 centimeters, that had been in Zertal's dumps. Using advanced tomographic scanning at the Academy of Sciences in Prague, the team read an inscription on the inner surfaces of the folded tablet.

The reading, published by Pieter Gert van der Veen, Gershon Galil, and Scott Stripling, identified a proto-alphabetic inscription of approximately 48 letters arranged in a formulaic curse text. The proposed reading includes the phrase "Cursed, cursed, cursed — cursed by the God YHW" (a short form of YHWH) and "You will die cursed. Cursed you will surely die. Cursed by YHW — cursed, cursed, cursed." If this reading is correct, the tablet would be the oldest known Hebrew inscription (predating the Khirbet Qeiyafa ostracon by over a century), the oldest attestation of the divine name YHWH in any script, and a direct connection to the Deuteronomic curse ceremony commanded for Mount Ebal.

However, the tablet's reading has been challenged by epigraphers including Christopher Rollston, who has argued that the scans do not clearly show the letters claimed, and that the reading involves considerable speculation. The debate is ongoing and has not yet reached scholarly consensus. Peer-reviewed publication of the full evidence was still underway as of the latest available reports.

Regardless of the tablet controversy, the Mount Ebal site remains significant as one of the earliest Iron Age I cultic installations in the central hill country. Its location on Ebal, opposite Gerizim and overlooking Shechem, places it at one of the most sacred crossroads in biblical geography. The Iron Age I date, the sacrificial assemblage, and the unhewn stone construction all point to early Israelite cultic activity, whether or not the structure can be definitively linked to Joshua.

The site is accessible but located in a sensitive area near Nablus. Artifacts from Zertal's excavations are housed at the University of Haifa. The lead tablet is in a facility associated with the Associates for Biblical Research.

• Large rectangular stone installation (9x7 meters) built of unhewn stones, identified by Zertal as Joshua's altar from Deuteronomy 27
• Over 1,000 calcined animal bones from exclusively kosher species (young male sheep, goats, cattle, fallow deer) suggesting sacrificial practice
• Iron Age I pottery dating the site to approximately 1200-1140 BCE, the period conventionally assigned to early Israelite settlement
• Folded lead curse tablet (2022) with a disputed proto-alphabetic inscription potentially containing the divine name YHW/YHWH
• If confirmed, the curse tablet would be the oldest known Hebrew inscription and the earliest attestation of the name YHWH

Deuteronomy 27:4-8 commands: "When you have crossed the Jordan, you shall set up these stones on Mount Ebal... and you shall build there an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones. You shall not wield an iron tool on them. You shall build the altar of the LORD your God of uncut stones." The passage continues with instructions for burnt offerings and peace offerings, and for writing the law on plastered stones. Joshua 8:30-35 records the fulfillment: "Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, 'an altar of uncut stones, on which no man has wielded an iron tool.'" Deuteronomy 27:13 assigns the tribes standing on Mount Ebal to pronounce curses, while those on Mount Gerizim pronounce blessings. The lead tablet, if correctly read as a curse text, would connect directly to this Ebal-as-curse-mountain tradition.