今年7月份，美国科学家在以色列境内发现了一个刻在石头上的古代字母表。一些学者日前表示，这为证明早在公元前10世纪，古代以色列人就具备识字及书写能力提供了迄今为止最为可靠的证据。

    据美联社11月9日报道，这块刻有字母的石头是由美国匹兹堡神学院的教授、考古学家罗恩·塔佩发现的，字母表共包含两行文字符号。对此，塔佩表示，这非常罕见。这块石头很可能证明，早在公元前10世纪，这里的人们就会书写了。

    克里斯多佛·罗尔斯通是美国以马利宗教学校的闪语研究教授。他并没有参与发现字母表的研究工作。但他表示，这种字母可能是腓尼基语或者是在腓尼基语和希伯来语之间的过渡语言。他说：“在以色列境内，我们现有的公元前10世纪的碑文资料非常少，因此这个字母表的发现充分扩充了我们现有的资料。”

    报道说，这块石头是今年7月份在一次为期5周的挖掘中于以色列特拉维夫南部30英里处的地方被发现的。 

    Two lines of an alphabet have been found inscribed in a stone in Israel, offering what some scholars say is the most solid evidence yet that the ancient Israelites were literate as early as the 10th century B.C.

    "This is very rare. This stone will be written about for many years to come,'' archaeologist Ron E. Tappy, a professor at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary who made the discovery, said Wednesday. "This makes it very historically probable there were people in the 10th century (B.C.) who could write.''

    Christopher Rollston, a professor of Semitic studies at Emmanuel School of Religion in Johnson City, Tenn., who was not involved in the find, said the writing is probably Phoenician or a transitional language between Phoenician and Hebrew.

    "We have little epigraphic material from the 10th century in Israel, and so this substantially augments the material we have,'' he said.

    The stone was found in July, on the final day of a five-week dig at Tel Zayit, about 30 miles south of Tel Aviv.