An ancient inscription in Jerusalem's City of David was deciphered with the words cursing the "governor of the city," the Israel Institute of Biblical Studies announced on Wednesday.
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The institute's head, Gershon Galil, deciphered the earliest and most important inscription discovered to date in Jerusalem.
Galil is also a professor in the Department of Jewish History and Biblical Studies at the University of Haifa.
"The new inscription proves that Jerusalem was not only a fortified city but also a very important cultural and cultic center, where excellent scribes and sophisticated magicians managed to write this important monumental inscription, as well as hold voodoo ceremonies," Galil said.
"Being the earliest known inscription of this sort in Canaan, it must have served as a model for other writers and priests in later periods and in different places in the land."
The inscription consists of 20 words and 63 letters in the ancient proto-Canaanite script. It reads as a curse wishing the death of the governor of Jerusalem: "Cursed, Cursed, you will surely die; Governor of the City, you will surely die."
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The stone slab was discovered by Eli Shukron, who conducted the excavation near the Gihon Spring area in 2010.
It dates to the Middle Bronze Age or Late Bronze Age period.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
