Ostracon

An ostracon is a piece of pottery usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In archeology, ostraca may contain scratched-in words or other form of writing which may give clues as to the time when the piece was in use. The word is derived from Greek ostrakon meaning a shell or a shard of pottery used as a voting tablet. The plural of ostracon is ostraca.

In Ancient Greece, the voting public would write or scratch the name of a person in the shard of pottery. When the decision at hand was to banish or exile a certain member of society, citizen peers would cast their vote by writing the name of the person on the piece of pottery; the vote was counted and if unfavorable the person was put out of the city, thus giving rise to the term ostracism.

Limestone Ostraca, Egypt

In Egypt, limestone quarries are numerous, though they were used extensively, and rendered less productive. The quarrymen, were also part of the group of "tomb inscribers", at Deir el Medina (adjacent to the Valley of the Kings), and Amarna period City Akhetaten, and they were semi-educated(?), talented, and productive. In Egypt, everything was used for ostraca: pottery shards, limestone, other stone types, etc., but limestone shards, being 'flaky', and of a lighter color, were a common type.

The "themes" covered on ostraca are often 'heretical', but this is only a projection from the outside. On the 'ostracon,' the individual was able to express themselves. Often the pictures had a statement, or sentences to accompany the theme. The statements are in a variety of scripts, some succinct, short statements, some not.

Biblical Period Ostraca

Famous ostraca for Biblical archaeology have been found at:

• Arad, Israel, or Tel Arad
• Lachish
• Samaria

See also

• ostracism

References

• Parkinson. Cracking Codes, the Rosetta Stone, and Decipherment, Richard Parkinson, with W. Diffie, M. Fischer, and R.S. Simpson, (University of California Press), c. 1999. Approximately ( 6 ) categories of ostraca referenced, with 10 examples. Covers, Egy. hieroglyphs, Coptic, Lists, and various pictographic scenes, with "Analysis, discuusion". This book is a 200th Anniversary Edition, commemorating

the 1798 Discovery (of the Rosetta Stone. Contains approx. 85 Black and White Photographs, Glossary, Select Bibliography, Concordance (85+ EA-no. British Museum item list), Chronology, Index.