The Evolution of the Proto-Canaanite Alphabet

An ArchaicBaclInscription from Tel Beth-Shemesh

“…The awkward result does not, however, offer a plausible alternative reading to nun (a short horizontal stroke serving as a word divider followed by a large acute gimel or pe?). 4 Close examination, however, shows that the loop of Sign 7 may not close on the viewer's right, so that it might in fact not be a closed circle but rather the upper hook of a sign like yod or pe or even šin, assuming 90-degree counterclockwise rotation from its later, classical stance, as seen, for example, in the šin of the Lachish ewer (Gaster 1940: 47-54 and frontispiece;Cross 1954[= Cross 2003) or the Qubūr el-Walaydah bowl (Cohen 1978;Cross 1980: 1-4 = Cross 2003: 213-216 andFig. 32.1-32.2]).…”