The pottery shards—known as ostraca—are like the 'post-it notes of antiquity,' according to scholar Chris Rollston.
In archaeological terms, ostraca are essentially pieces of broken pottery from ancient household items—such as pots—which were subsequently used to write down information in usually short inscriptions, almost like the"post-it notes of antiquity," according to Rollston.
According to Rollston, the ostraca he is studying—which are thought to contain inscriptions in Aramaic—could help to shed light on a crucial period in Jewish history. "It's difficult to know exactly when these inscriptions were written, but my sense is they were written sometime during the decade or two right prior to fall of Judaea to the Romans," he said."These are inscriptions from this really pivotal period in what we know as ancient Judaea."
The ostraca in Rollston's possession were found at a well-known site called Machaerus—a hilltop fortress located on the eastern side of the Dead Sea in present-day Jordan. According to the Romano-Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, this fortress was the location where John the Baptist was imprisoned and executed some time between 28 and 36 A.D.
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