The video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T21U7tBCB8
The accompanying slide:
- persian period.png (38.87 KiB) Viewed 426 times
From about the 28:30 minute position:
Finkelstein further addressed the argument that perhaps the authors of the Pentateuch were a tiny clique confined to an isolated room somewhere..... . . . Late monarchic Judah became a writing society. This was probably the outcome of the century when Judah was dominated by Assyria and was incorporated into the sphere of the Assyrian global economy administration and culture.
This impressive evidence for scribal infrastructure in Judah disappeared - I repeat - disappeared after the 586 BC destruction. In the Babylonian and Persian period the southern highlands show almost no evidence of Hebrew - underline Hebrew - inscriptions. In fact the only meagre evidence comes from a few letters on a few Yehud coins which date from the fourth century. And coins can hardly attest in my opinion to general scribal activity.
This means that not a single Hebrew inscription is known from the period between 586 and 350, not an ostracon, nor a seal, not a seal impression, nor a bulla. In short, there is no evidence for Hebrew writing culture in Yehud.
One could argue for production of literary works on papyri in the temple. This is possible of course. Though I find it extremely difficult that nothing of this activity leaked to other media of writing.
I’m not suggesting here that the knowledge of Hebrew writing disappeared altogether becaue such a statement would contradict the revival of Hebrew in the Hasmonean era second century Hasmonean state. But scribal activity declined dramatically. . . .