Let’s investigate the development of alphabets. I have told you before in past Nuggets that there is a remarkable correlation between the rise of the ancient civilizations around the fertile crescent, the site of the earliest civilizations known to man. The timing and succession of them is supported by the facts. Ugaritic, Chaldean, Egyptian, Canaanite and Babylonian were all birthed in an area of the world called the cradle of civilization, in close proximity to the location of the biblical Garden of Eden. I have shared with you before in earlier Nuggets the contemporaneous relationship between the Israelites, the speakers of Hebrew and the nations around them. I have told you of the proof found in the El Amarna Letters which attests to the Habiru (read Hebrew) and the Canaanites and Egyptians of the time period. Irrefutable evidence. See The El Amarna Letters
We have also looked together at the findings of David Rohl and Manfred Bietak at Tel-ed-Daba (the site of the ancient city of Avaris). [See Discoveries at Avaris] Avaris was known as a north-eastern city of the Delta which supported a cosmopolitan population of Egyptians mixed with the people groups of the lands to the north and east – The Asiatics. I have talked about those with you when we investigated the research of David Rohl into the proof of the Exodus and the likelihood of Joseph’s Palace being found at Tell-ed-Daba. (Found in the Grand Vizier’s Tomb)
Now I would like to look at the connection between the written languages of the kingdoms of the Ancient Near East (ANE). There is such remarkable similarity between them that it is impossible to escape or deny the relationship between them. Recently I have been leading those doing Deeper Bible at the ultimate level (DB 701) into the realization that Hebrew, the ancient language or the Jews, and the languages of the nations which make up the Table of Nations (Genesis 10) are related. Not only that but the alphabets created by mankind to communicate across languages are also related. Most, if not all, of these ancient languages from the Cradle of Civilization began as pictograms or hieroglyphs and subsequently developed into alphabets from the first picture symbols.
Very close to Tel-ed-Daba (Avaris) was a centre called Serabitel-Khadem or named in other circles Sarbut-el-Khadem. This centre was located in the Valley of the Writing (Wadi Mukatteb) and was a mining centre for the extraction of turquoise at the time of the last great pharaohs of Egypt (1850 – 1799 BC) and back to the time when the Hyksos, the invading Canaanites ruled Egypt . What is fascinating about Serabitel-Khadem is that it attracted a horde of Asiatic people from the North to the region. The area was famous not only for turquoise but also for writings. It was indeed located in the Valley of Writing. I have told you about that too in earlier Nuggets. Now is the time to look at this ancient centre from yet another point of view.
There are many inscriptions left in this area, not just the ones I told you about in those early Nuggets on the Proof of the Exodus. Many inscriptions have been left in various texts and pictographs. Only the Asiatics from outside of Egypt were regarded as foreign, the others from the Delta were considered Egyptian. But ancient expedition lists found at Serabitel-Khadem contain many Asiatic names which are listed as “interpreters”. Orly Goldwasser, an expert on ancient languages and geography has put forward the notion that the first alphabets in the world were created by the Canaanites in Serabitel-Khadem. The article by Goldwasser has sparked lively debate as to who it was who developed the ancient alphabets, given the similarity between them.
It is this debate over the development of alphabets which I intend to turn into a series in the following Nuggets.
Source: How the Alphabet was born from Hieroglyphs. Orly Goldwasser (Article 20 – from Forty Groundbreaking Articles from Forty Years of Biblical Archaeology Review (40 by 40 Volume One).