Scientists have many questions
Archaeologists have finally discovered a lost alphabet that has puzzled scientists for decades, which belonged to a civilization that lived 3,000 years ago and had biblical significance.< /p> 
Since 1964, archaeologists have found 15 different tablets with strange carvings at the site of an ancient settlement in Jordan, writes the Daily Mail . Thanks to new analysis, archaeologists have discovered that they were likely made by the Canaanites, an indigenous group that flourished in the Middle East until the second half of the 13th century BC.
The Canaanites lived in the «Promised Land» from 3500 BC to 1200 BC, before they were conquered by the Israelite tribes following their exodus from Egypt, the Daily Mail recalls. The Canaanites are mentioned several times in the Old Testament, including Genesis, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and the book of Joshua. In Joshua 3:10, God tells the Israelites that he will drive out the Canaanites before they arrive in the promised land. The Israelites fought a series of wars against the Canaanites and eventually captured most of their lands — a conquest that occurred in the second half of the 13th century BC. But before that, in the Bronze Age, the Canaanites lived throughout the Southern Levant, that is, in the territory of modern Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and some areas of Syria.
The mysterious clay tablets.
A study published in the journal American Society of Overseas Research found that the inscriptions were written from left to right and contained 29 unique characters in the form of dots, vertical stripes and other abstract designs.
Researchers have suggested that the inscriptions are short cult sayings referring to the religious temple in which they were found, which was burned and destroyed thousands of years ago.
The temple was located in an ancient settlement called Deir Allah, in the center of the Jordan Valley, which stretches along the Jordan River from the Sea of Galilee in Israel to the Dead Sea.
The structure was damaged during the period of massive destruction that spanned the 13th-12th centuries. Archaeologists discovered tablets in a heavily burned part of the excavation.
The team also discovered ceramics, including cups and ceremonial vessels, as well as armor among the ruins.
Sculptures were also found at the excavation site , which were a gift from the Egyptian queen Tuosret, which made it possible to establish the approximate date of destruction — a little later than 1180 BC.
The writing on the tablets bore similarities to Proto-Sinaitic script, a Middle Bronze Age writing system that may have been the ancestor of this alphabet.
The writing also bears similarities to Proto-Canaanite alphabets found at other Late Bronze Age sites, according to the Daily Mail. which were created by people familiar with ancient Egyptian writing.
But some unique combinations of characters were also found on the tablets, including two that were combined with another that resembled an eye. Scientists have identified this sign as «ayin», which also means «eye».
These parallels and patterns helped scientists understand the meaning of the symbols on the tablets and begin to decipher their mysterious message.
In particular, their analysis, along with the grammar of late Hebrew, which preserved earlier Canaanite forms, showed that the tablets , apparently contain "short ritual utterances" and "poetic proverbs".
This suggests that the tablets were used in cult rituals that were performed at the Deir Allah temple.
But researchers will have to do more research to fully translate them. Studying these tablets has helped scholars better understand the Canaanite language spoken in the region before the Israelites conquered it.
But there are many more questions that still await answers. As far as experts know, literacy was not widespread until the end of the Iron Age.
During the Bronze Age, writing existed only in isolated areas and was mainly associated with the practice of scribes in powerful societies such as the Egyptian state.
Thus, scientists are not sure why written tablets ended up in Deir Alla at all. One explanation may be that alphabetic writing was actually used by small groups of scribes and may have been concentrated in temples. This could mean that the Deir Allah tablets are the last remnants of writing created in temples throughout Canaan before it collapsed.