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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Steffie Banatvala

FOUND: Scholar makes controversial claim about inscriptions found in desert - What They Never Told You

  • An American-Israeli epigraphist, Michael S. Bar-Ron, claims two 3,800-year-old inscriptions found at a turquoise mine in the Egyptian desert could be the earliest written references to Moses.
  • The Proto-Sinaitic etchings, discovered at the Serabit el-Khadim mining site in the Sinai Desert, date from 1800 to 1600 BC, predating the earliest biblical texts.
  • Bar-Ron interprets the texts as “Zot M’Moshe” and “Ne’um Moshe”, potentially translating to “This is from Moses” and “Declaration of Moses”, which would be the oldest non-biblical mentions of Moses.
  • He also suggests the inscriptions, which refer to the deity El, contain warnings and rebukes against the ancient goddess Ba’alat cult, whose temple was at the site.
  • Academic reception to Mr Bar-Ron's interpretation is mixed, with some Egyptologists like Thomas Schneider calling it “completely unproven and misleading”, though Mr Bar-Ron stresses his work is peer-reviewed.

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