IL Archive The name that crossed millennia
EN

Independent research archive Texts · Ideas · Civilizations

Menu

Site · archaeological_site

Kuntillet ʿAjrud

Sinai site preserving blessings by Yahweh of Samaria/Teman and “his asherah” around 800 BCE; building function and wording disputed.

Modern summary of two Kuntillet ʿAjrud formulas in published readings. Not a jar photograph, inscription facsimile or map; does not settle “his asherah” or drawing identities
Modern summary of two Kuntillet ʿAjrud formulas in published readings. Not a jar photograph, inscription facsimile or map; does not settle “his asherah” or drawing identitiesIL Archive · original diagram · CC BYImage source

Text

Excavations in 1975–1976 uncovered jars, plaster, inscriptions and drawings. About fifty kilometres south of Kadesh Barnea, it had water near the Red Sea–Gaza route. Relevant material dates to the late ninth/early eighth centuries BCE. [1]

Interpretations include way station, state establishment/scribal education and ritualRitualAn organised or distinguished practice meaningful to a community; it may leave traces, but its form alone does not reveal an associated doctrine.Glossary · Click to read the explanation activity. Blessing language alone does not establish a temple; adjacent drawings do not automatically identify YahwehYahwehThe divine proper name written YHWH in the Hebrew Bible.Glossary · Click to read the explanation and Asherah. Diagram summarizes published formulas, not artifacts. [1][2]

References and notes

  1. Jeremy Smoak and William Schniedewind. Religion at Kuntillet ʿAjrud. Religions 10 (2019), 211. DOI: 10.3390/rel10030211. Introduction, site-function passages pp. 2–3, KA 3.1/3.6 blessings p. 5 and available scribal-context passages read. Selected pages, not the entire article. Scribal education is the authors’ interpretation, not an established exclusive site function. Return to the text ↑
  2. Judith M. Hadley. Evidence for Asherah. Bible Interp, 2008. Read sections on Athirat, Kuntillet ʿAjrud/el-Qom inscriptions, drawings, figurines, biblical terminology and reform. Hadley favours a wooden symbol representing the goddess; not attributed an exclusively wife-based interpretation. Reported disagreements not treated as consensus. Return to the text ↑

Research history

Substantive changes are retained here. Minor copy edits remain in the internal operational log.

  1. Edition 2 · 11 October 2026 · editor:aladmin

    Substantive record update

    Read this revision in its original language (Arabic)

Suggest a correction · Suggest a source for this record

Cite this record

IL Archive, «Kuntillet ʿAjrud», Edition 2, https://ilarchive.com/en/sites/kuntillet-ajrud