The Elephantine papyri

A Jewish garrison at Elephantine keeps a working temple to YHW outside Jerusalem, on dated papyrus, and the letters independently name figures the Bible names.

In plain words

Papyrus letters from a Jewish garrison at Elephantine, in Egypt, show a working temple to YHW far from Jerusalem, and name people the Bible names: an outside, neutral witness confirming two of the Bible's named figures, and a lived faith already running outside Jerusalem's control.

The mechanism

HOSTILE-NEUTRAL PRIMARY WITNESS — hard outside confirmation of the biblical cast, and proof that a vernacular Judaism was already living well outside Jerusalem's custody

How it was checked

• EvidenceT6 PHYSICAL / MANUSCRIPT; Status: COMMITTED; a release
• Letter eraTHE PROPHETS AND THE ROAD 776 BC to 4 BC
• Plate — Elephantine papyrus from the Mibtahiah archive, Egyptian Museum, Cairo · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elephantine_papyrus_J_37112_(Sayce_and_Cowley_1906,_F)_from_the_Mibtahiah_archive.jpg
• SourcesARCHAEOLOGY — three dated papyri