Qasile Reg. No. 2569/4, Locus 216

The editio princep's notes that Donald Ariel and Philip Schmitz suggest the reading is to be Phoenician and ˁNP and to be read as "branches," presumably following Hebrew. Given the vessels in the study appear to come from the Eastern Agaean, one should consider reading ˁNP as "grapes." Evidence from Elephantine/Syene indicates that Persian sponsored Eastern Agaean merchants, likely Carians, were active in the Eastern Mediterrean hauling such wares and using the Phoenician script. At least to examples indicate that they used Carian P for Semitic B and the interchange between B < > P is already elsewhere attested in Phoenician. The photograph is not clear, and if, in fact, the hand copy's "eye"-shaped symbol is found, this complicates matters, in which case see the impression referenced by Mazar found in Finkielsztejn 2013 no. 35a (Moore).