According to the books of Kings and Chronicles, King Solomon was visited by the queen of Sheba—an episode that inspired much folklore and at least three Hollywood films. Most scholars today believe her kingdom, described by the Bible as rich in spices and precious stones, was located in southern Arabia, but others place it in modern-day Ethiopia. Nathan Steinmeyer explains a new theory suggesting that a 3,000-year-old potsherd could provide evidence of contact between Sheba and ancient Israel:
Discovered in 2012 during excavations at the Ophel [area of Jerusalem] by the late Eilat Mazar, the small inscription, which includes just seven letters, has puzzled scholars for years. While most have assumed the inscription is written in Canaanite, Daniel Vainstub of Ben-Gurion University now believes it is written in an ancient South Arabian script known as Sabaic, the language of the ancient kingdom of Saba (biblical Sheba) in the area of modern Yemen.
Dated to the 10th century BCE—the time of the biblical King Solomon—the inscription could provide evidence of trade connections between ancient south Arabia and Jerusalem during this early period. According to Vainstub, . . . the second word, which Vainstub reads as ladanum, is a type of resin possibly to be identified with onycha, one of the ingredients used to create incense burned at the tabernacle (Exodus 30:34).
Not everyone is convinced by Vainstub’s reading or interpretation, however. “Which is more likely, that we have in this Jerusalem inscription the Canaanite script, which is well attested in the Levantine world, or that we have a 10th-century early Arabian script?” cautioned Christopher Rollston, Professor of Northwest Semitic Languages and Literatures at George Washington University.
Read more on Bible History Daily: https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-israel/solomon-and-sheba-archaeological-evidence/