Umm Leisun inscription
Georgian inscription
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The Umm Leisun inscription (Georgian: უმ ლეისუნის წარწერა, romanized: um leisunis ts'arts'era) is an Old Georgian limestone tombstone slab. It has a five-line[1] inscription written in the Georgian Asomtavruli script and was discovered in 2002, after the renewal of 1996[2] excavation at a Georgian monastery of the Byzantine period, in the neighborhood of Umm Leisun, in the southern part of Sur Baher, 4.5 km southeast of the Old City of Jerusalem.[3] It was found in a burial crypt under the polychrome[4] mosaic floor.[5]
| Umm Leisun inscription | |
|---|---|
| |
| Material | Limestone |
| Writing | Georgian script |
| Created | 5th or 6th century |
| Discovered | 2002 |
| Present location | Archaeological Garden of Knesset, Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem |
| Language | Old Georgian |
In total about 24 interments were discovered in the crypt.[6] Per sex estimation for human skeletons, all of them were adult males, as would be expected in a monastery.[7] The occupant of the most important tomb identified by a Georgian inscription was a "Georgian bishop Iohane" (John in Old Georgian), who was also the oldest and his age underlined his special status.[8] He would have been aged 66 or 67 when he died, and had suffered from osteoporosis.[9] The inscription is the earliest known example for an ethnonym ႵႠႰႧႥႤႪႨ (kartveli i.e. Georgian) on any archaeological artifact, both in the Holy Land and in Georgia.[10][11]
The inscription measures 81 × 49 cm cut into the tombstone. It is dated to the end of the 5th or the first half of the 6th century AD.[12] The inscription is kept at the Archaeological Garden of Knesset.[13]