Yavne-Yam ostracon
| Mesad Hashavyahu ostracon | |
|---|---|
| המכתב ממצד חשביהו | |
| Type | Ostracon |
| Material | |
| Height | 20 centimetres (7.9 in) |
| Width | 16.5 centimetres (6.5 in) |
| Writing | Paleo-Hebrew |
| Created | 7th century BC |
| Discovered | 1960 Mesad Hashavyahu |
| Discovered by | Joseph Naveh |
| Present location | Israel Museum, Jerusalem |
| Culture | Israelites |
| Part of a series on |
| Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions |
|---|
The Yavne-Yam ostracon (Hebrew: האוסטרקון מיבנה-ים), also known as the Mesad Hashavyahu ostracon (Hebrew: המכתב ממצד חשביהו), is an ostracon discovered in 1960 by Joseph Naveh at Mesad Hashavyahu, near Yavne-Yam, Israel. The artifact contains a written appeal by a field worker to the fortress's governor regarding the confiscation of his cloak, which the writer considers unjust. The inscription is cataloged as KAI 200.
The ostracon was found under the floor of a room adjacent to the guardhouse/gate complex, is approximately 20 cm high by 16.5 cm wide, and contains 14 visible lines of text. In all, seven key artifacts were recovered, six of them inscribed ostraca in the Hebrew language. Pottery shards in the layer above represented Greek (early Ionian/Southwest Anatolian) or Persian-period pottery. The ostraca from this site are currently located in the Israel Museum at Jerusalem.