inscribed ceramics from the shrine at gorham’s cave

The first item is a common ceramic bowl fragment from the archaic phase of the shrine, with three clearly visible graphemes which have been inscribed with a sharp tool. These graphemes have been identified as Phoenician. Reading from right to left, as such is the direction of Phoenician writing we can see that:

The first grapheme is clearly ‘ayin’
The second is ‘nun’
The third is more complex and could be ‘shin’ or ‘kaph’

The empty spaces on both sides of the three graphemes indicate that the inscription is complete. This type of inscription tends to correspond to personal names or abbreviation, possibly of the owner of the ceramic object. In this case, such a name is not known but it could well possibly correspond to a Phoenician name that we do not know yet. Another possibility would be that the inscription had a ritualistic purpose which is also currently unknown.

The second item is also a common ceramic bowl, originating from the Mediterranean coast of what is now Andalusia, possibly even from the Bay of Gibraltar and is dated between the 4th and 2nd century BCE.

Multiple preserved fragments can be grouped into four larger pieces. The inscription, made post-firing, presents a series of graphemes that resemble Greek lettering of the Ionian kind, with this type of writing being classified as a ‘Greco-Iberian alphabet’ – in other words, written in the Iberian language, but using the Greek writing system.

These types of inscriptions are very rare and they are also all located on the east coast of the Iberian Peninsula, this being the first time it has been recorded outside of that geographical area. The inscription reads IRBE OGAREI[ … ] EBAN (‘[ … ]’ meaning that part of the text is missing).

Deciphering the meaning of this inscription is a complex matter. It is currently under study by specialists, but given that it was found within a shrine, it is likely related to some ritual meaning.