The Gezer calendar is a small limestone tablet with an early Canaanite inscription discovered in 1908 by Irish archaeologist R. A. Stewart Macalister in the ancient city of Gezer, 20 miles west of Jerusalem. It is commonly dated to the 10th century BCE, although the excavation was unstratified and its identification during the excavations was not in a “secure archaeological context”, presenting uncertainty around the dating.
Scholars are divided as to whether the language is Phoenician or Hebrew and whether the script is Phoenician (or Proto-Canaanite) or paleo-Hebrew.
Inscription
The calendar is inscribed on a limestone plaque and describes monthly or bi-monthly periods and attributes to each a duty such as harvest, planting, or tending specific crops.
The inscription, known as KAI 182, is in Phoenician or paleo-Hebrew script:
.
.
Which in equivalent square Hebrew letters is as follows:
- ירחואספ ירחוז
- רע ירחולקש
- ירחעצדפשת
- ירחקצרשערמ
- ירחקצרוכל
- ירחוזמר
- ירחקצ
-
- אבי (ה)
This corresponds to the following transliteration, with spaces added for word divisions:
- yrḥw ʾsp yrḥw z
- rʿ yrḥw lqš
- yrḥ ʿṣd pšt
- yrḥ qṣr šʿrm
- yrḥ qṣrw kl
- yrḥw zmr
- yrḥ qṣ
- ʾby
The text has been translated as:
- Two months gathering (October, November — in the Hebrew calendar Tishrei, Cheshvan)
- Two months planting (December, January — Kislev, Tevet)
- Two months late sowing (February, March — Shvat, Adar)
- One month cutting flax (April — Nisan)
- One month reaping barley (May — Iyar)
- One month reaping and measuring grain (June — Sivan)
- Two months pruning (July, August — Tammuz, Av)
- One month summer fruit (September — Elul)
- Abij
Scholars have speculated that the calendar could be a schoolboy’s memory exercise, the text of a popular folk song or a children’s song. Another possibility is something designed for the collection of taxes from farmers.
The scribe of the calendar is probably “Abijah”, which means “Yah (a shortened form of the Tetragrammaton) is my father”. This name appears in the Bible for several individuals, including a king of Judah (1 Kings 14:31).
History
The calendar was discovered in 1908 by R.A.S. Macalister of the Palestine Exploration Fund while excavating the ancient Canaanite city of Gezer, 20 miles west of Jerusalem.
The Gezer calendar is currently displayed at the Museum of the Ancient Orient, a Turkish archaeology museum, as is the Siloam inscription and other archaeological artifacts unearthed before World War I. A replica of the Gezer calendar is on display at the Israel Museum, Israel.