Inscribed Objects Recovery
Prepared by Aaron A. Burke in coordination with Bruce Zuckerman and Marilyn
Lundberg of the West Semitic Research Project, USC
Revised March 14, 2013
1. CONTEXT
One area of importance to the JCHP’s efforts to improve the recovery of a range of new materials is
the identification of inscribed objects. Despite years of excavation a remarkable dearth of
inscriptions have been recovered from the tell and surrounding lower city in Jaffa. This is despite
the discovery in 1956 and 1958 of fragments of the monumental gate façade of Ramesses II. The
following protocols have been developed, therefore, to fill this lacuna. In particular, we anticipate
the identification of (1) Egyptian hieratic inscriptions, (2) cuneiform tablet fragments, and (3)
sealings associated with the New Kingdom Egyptian garrison and administrative apparatus, or
similar materials dated to the Middle Bronze Age.
All inscribed objects are registered with JCHP numbers and processed like other finds with the
exception of being referred to project specialists. William Schniedewind (UCLA) is the project’s
Northwest Semitic epigrapher. Jacco Dieleman (UCLA) is the project’s Egyptologist to address
hieroglyphic and hieratic inscriptions.
2. TYPES OF INSCRIBED MATERIALS
The following are some of the most common examples of different inscribed materials that occur in
archaeological contexts:
• ink inscriptions on intact vessels or ceramic sherds (ostraca)…see Figure 1
• incised inscriptions (jar handles; vessel shoulders; stone tablets, rare!)
• stamp impressions (sealings)
• stamps (stamp seals; cylinder seals)
• impressed clay tablets and (more often than not) fragments (cuneiform tablets)
Figure 1. Examples of alphabetic signs in different Northwest Semitic inscriptions
3. RECOVERY EFFORTS BEFORE ARTIFACT CLEANING
While some inscriptions are identified visually during excavation, most inscribed materials are only
identified after excavations during the processing of artifacts, and usually are not expected when
they are encountered. There are rarely any clues during excavation that suggest the presence of
inscribed artifacts before careful examination after excavation.
There are a few things that can be done to improve the recovery of inscribed artifacts:
1. Dusting. Artifacts, particularly individual sherds of substantial size, should be dusted off
thoroughly to improve the detection of inscriptions. They should not, however, be brushed
with a any coarse brushes or abrasive materials.
2. Lighting. Raking light will catch more incised inscriptions than direct overhead sunlight.
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The Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project
Revised March 14, 2013
3. Water. Sherds that are suspected to have possible inscriptions on them can be rinsed or
dipped in water in the field. It is important to verify the existence of an inscription in this
context, which could permit the modification of the excavation strategy.
4. POST-EXCAVATION RECOVERY
The the most common treatment of ceramics after excavation (i.e., cleaning of sherds with brushes)
fundamentally reduces the number and legibility of the most common type of inscribed objects, the
inked ostracon. It may also contribute to the loss of unbaked clay tablet fragments bearing small
cuneiform signs (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Examples of Cuneiform characters from clay tablets
1. Dipping. After sherds have been excavated, sherds from each bucket will be subjected to an
individual dipping process. Each individual sherd will be dipped in a bucket of water (and
shaken if necessary) to remove dirt from both surfaces (recto and verso) to check for the
appearance of inscriptions. During this process the sherds of greatest concern with be the
largest, as small sherds (i.e., those smaller than a quarter) will provide very limited context
for reading or identification. Nonetheless, care must be taken with all sherds during this
process, as small sherds may restore to larger sherds and thereby complete inscriptions.
2. Flecking. If materials have been hardened to the surface (and if they are not completely
concretized) and dipping has not lifted the material, a bamboo stick may be used to fleck or
lift away from the sherd tenacious buildup of dirt.
5. ENHANCING INSCRIPTION LEGIBILITY
Once an inscription is identified there are some things that can be done to increase the legibility of
an inscription (5 to 10% of the time):
1. Color filtration. Photos can be filtered according to their wavelength (yellow, red and
orange); with a digital camera you can use the red channel (the R portion of RBG in Black
and White; 88A filter good at filtering out ceramic background color).
2. Increase contrast. Boosting contrast can be helpful but take care since this boosts the
contrast across the board and certain dots may start to look like part of an inscription,
leading to false positive identifications.
3. Infrared. This technique is useful but does not bring out all ink types and colors.
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