Editing Kingdom of Judah (section)

=== Literacy ===
A [[Tel Arad#Ostraca|collection of military orders]] found in the ruins of a [[Tel Arad|military fortress]] in the [[Negev]] dating to the period of the Kingdom of Judah indicates widespread literacy, based on the inscriptions, the ability to read and write extended throughout the chain of command from commanders to petty officers. According to Professor Eliezer Piasetsky, who participated in analyzing the texts, "Literacy existed at all levels of the administrative, military and priestly systems of Judah. Reading and writing were not limited to a tiny elite." That indicates the presence of a substantial educational infrastructure in Judah at the time.<ref>Pileggi, Tamar (12 April 2016). [https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-look-at-ancient-shards-suggests-bible-even-older-than-thought "New Look at Ancient Shards Suggests Bible Even Older than Thought."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181210204240/https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-look-at-ancient-shards-suggests-bible-even-older-than-thought/ |date=2018-12-10}} ''[[Times of Israel]]''. Retrieved from TimesofIsrael.com, 30 January 2019.</ref>

Archaeological research near the [[Gihon Spring]] in the City of David has revealed many anepigraphical [[Bulla (seal)|bullae]] (that is, bullae bearing only iconography, no inscriptions) dated to the 11th/10th–9th centuries BCE which feature "papyrus lines" on their backs. It has been argued that these seals provide evidence that [[Papyrus|papyrus texts]] were written and used in Jerusalem already from the 10th (perhaps 11th) century BCE onwards.{{sfn|Richelle|2024|p=116}}