# Middle Bronze Age, c. 1900-1600 BC (Dunand)

> Still possible: The inscriptions belong to the Middle Bronze Age, about 1900 to 1600 BC, as Dunand dated them from their find context and the hieratic…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary/answers/ANS0DEDT09DQ846/middle-bronze-age-c-1900-1600-bc-dunand  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

---

[Questions](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions)[Byblos syllabary](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary)[When were the Byblos inscriptions written?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary/questions/QST0DEDQQ0JG3EE/when-were-the-byblos-inscriptions-written)Answer

Answer · Byblos syllabary

# Middle Bronze Age, c. 1900-1600 BC (Dunand)

The inscriptions belong to the Middle Bronze Age, about 1900 to 1600 BC, as Dunand dated them from their find context and the hieratic look of the signs.

**Still possible** Answers **1** question0

## Where it stands

**Still possible** One piece of evidence for, one against. It needs two reviews to be accepted.

## What it predicts

- The bronze alloys match Middle Bronze Age Byblian bronzes rather than Iron Age ones.
- Dunand's excavation records, now in Lebanon, place the tablets in Middle Bronze Age levels.
- The closest Egyptian parallels for the sign forms are Middle Kingdom hieratic.

## What would rule it out

- Alloy or archival evidence placing the bronzes in the Iron Age.
- Demonstration that specific signs copy ninth-century cursive letter forms that did not exist earlier.

## Evidence 1 for · 1 against

[Dunand's excavation context and the hieratic character of the signs led him to a nineteenth to eighteenth century BC…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary/evidence/EVD0DEDVKMSHWNN/dunands-excavation-context-and-the-hieratic-character-of-the)

Suggestive

FOR

[None of the 13 to 16 inscribed objects has a secure stratigraphic context, so the Middle Bronze Age date rests on…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary/evidence/EVD0DEDVKZNT733/none-of-the-13-to-16-inscribed-objects-has-a-secure)

Suggestive

AGAINST

## The questions it answers

[When were the Byblos inscriptions written?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary/questions/QST0DEDQQ0JG3EE/when-were-the-byblos-inscriptions-written)

Open3 answers, none ahead

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). Middle Bronze Age, c. 1900-1600 BC (Dunand) [Answer ANS0DEDT09DQ846]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ANS0DEDT09DQ846
```

Key

**ANS** 0DEDT09DQ846

Kind

Answer · hypothesis

Proposed

[Session 1](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary/sessions/SES0DEDWWFFGTGW/session-1-the-byblos-syllabary-seeded-corpus-readings-and) · 31 Oct 2026

Version

1

Added by

[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

The record

Every record is open data. Take this one as JSON, with its links and its history.

[JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/api/v1/records/ANS0DEDT09DQ846)
