Inscription on the Tell Duweir ewer

In 1934, a vase was unearthed in excavations at Tell ed-Duweir (Tell Lachish) in an expedition led by James Leslie Starkey. Theodor Gaster undertook to decipher the inscription on the vase, but before his decipherment was announced in The Times Newspaper the decipherment had been attributed to another. The items that comprise this collection are:

• Letter from Theodor Gaster to Colonel Hoysted, Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, to lodge with him a 'lettre cachée' with his decipherment of the new script found on the vase. He claimed that he had originally communicated the decipherment to James Starkey but had suppressed its publication until the discovery of the ewer had been announced in The Times. However, in that time, another had been attributed with the decipherment. He was therefore sending a copy of his letter to Starkey, as proof of his claim, to both the Royal Asiatic Society and the Palestine Exploration Fund. With the letter is his copy of the decipherment and an envelope labelled 'Lettre cachée deposited with the R.A.S. by Theodor Gaster on 12.6.34'.
• "Discovery at Tell Duweir: Identification of the Characters" - letter to the Editor printed in The Times, 12 June 1934, written by Theodor Gaster.
• "Discovery at Tell Duweir: Early Alphabets" - letter to the Editor printed in The Times, 13 June 1934, written by Alan H. Gardiner disputing the decipherment.
• "Discovery at Tell Duweir: A Translation of the Inscription" - letter to the Editor printed in The Times, dated 20 June 1934, written by F. Melian Stawell to add her contribution to the decipherment.

Theodor Gaster was a British-born American Biblical scholar working in the field of comparative religions. He was the son of Moses Gaster, the folklorist, and he was educated and received his first degree in London, before moving to America to pursue his doctorate, and where he pursued the majority of his academic career.

Sir Alan Henderson Gardiner was an English Egyptologist, linguist, philologist, and independent scholar. He developed his interest in Egyptology while still at school and he pursued his career within that field and acted as an advisor when the tomb of Tutankhamun was discovered in 1922.

Florence Melian Stawell, youngest daughter of Sir William Foster Stawell, was born in Melbourne in 1869. She first went to the University of Melbourne before attending Newnham College, Cambridge, where she subsequently became a don. Ill-health forced her retirement but she continued to publish books and pursue classical scholarship.

Open. Please contact the archivist. Details can be found here. The archive is open on Tuesdays and Fridays 10-5, and Thursdays 2-5. Access is to any researcher without appointment but it will help if an appointment is made via phone or email. Please bring photo ID.

The letter was sent by Thoedor Gaster to the Royal Asiatic Society with his decipherment. It is unknown how the newspaper cuttings became part of the collection. It is possible Colonel Hoysted acquired them after receiving the letter.

The material was catalogued by Nancy Charley, RAS Archivist, in 2022.

Digital photography (without flash) for research purposes may be permitted upon completion of a copyright declaration form, and with respect to current UK copyright law.

The letter and decipherment were written by Theodor Gaster.