Researchers at Tel Aviv University have found evidence suggesting that key parts of the Old Testament could have been written earlier than some scholars believe. Inscriptions found on pottery shows evidence of literacy among the population of an Iron Age fortress in Israel dating back 2,500 years. The researchers posted thier findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, where they revealed that 600 BCE pottery from the Arad citadel suggested that not only the elites in society were able to read. Premier Christian Radio reports: Using handwriting analysis technology, similar to that employed by intelligence agencies and banks to analyse signatures, a Tel Aviv University team has determined that a famous group of ancient Hebrew inscriptions, dated to around 600 BC, were written by at least six different authors. The inscriptions are not from the Hebrew Bible and their discovery suggests that there was widespread literacy in ancient Judah at the time, that would support the composition of biblical works. The findings have been released by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and they contribute to a long-standing debate about when biblical texts first began to be compiled. The arguments focus around whether or not the [...]