# Middle Kingdom, c. 1850-1800 BC

> Still possible: The Serabit inscriptions were written in the late Twelfth Dynasty, about 1850-1800 BC, under Senwosret III or Amenemhat III, contemporary…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/answers/ANS0DEDXXCK1RS5/middle-kingdom-c-1850-1800-bc  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
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[Questions](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions)[Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic)[When were the Serabit el-Khadim inscriptions written: in the Middle Kingdom, about 1850 BC, or in the New Kingdom?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/questions/QST0DEDW70ERVE3/when-were-the-serabit-el-khadim-inscriptions-written-in-the)Answer

Answer · Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet

# Middle Kingdom, c. 1850-1800 BC

The Serabit inscriptions were written in the late Twelfth Dynasty, about 1850-1800 BC, under Senwosret III or Amenemhat III, contemporary with the Wadi el-Hol texts.

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

## Where it stands

**Still possible** Two pieces of evidence for, none against. It needs two reviews to be accepted.

## What it predicts

- Letter forms at Serabit will be as pictorial as, or more pictorial than, those at Wadi el-Hol and the Lachish comb.
- Ceramic and radiocarbon evidence from the debris at Mines L and M will be Middle Kingdom.
- No Serabit letter form will presuppose a New Kingdom hieratic development.

## What would rule it out

- A Proto-Sinaitic inscription found sealed in a New Kingdom deposit, or cut over a dated New Kingdom Egyptian inscription.
- Letter forms at Serabit shown to be typologically later than the 15th-century Lachish sherd.

## Evidence 2 for · none against

[Parker's re-examination of the find spots at Serabit against the mining history places the inscriptions in the reign…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEE97TQD006/parkers-re-examination-of-the-find-spots-at-serabit-against)

Suggestive

FOR

[The Wadi el-Hol inscriptions, in the same script, sit among Egyptian inscriptions of the late Twelfth Dynasty, so the…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEE97CKFCYT/the-wadi-el-hol-inscriptions-in-the-same-script-sit-among)

Supported

FOR

## The questions it answers

[When were the Serabit el-Khadim inscriptions written: in the Middle Kingdom, about 1850 BC, or in the New Kingdom?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/questions/QST0DEDW70ERVE3/when-were-the-serabit-el-khadim-inscriptions-written-in-the)

Open4 answers, none ahead

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). Middle Kingdom, c. 1850-1800 BC [Answer ANS0DEDXXCK1RS5]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ANS0DEDXXCK1RS5
```

Key

**ANS** 0DEDXXCK1RS5

Kind

Answer · hypothesis

Proposed

[Session 1](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/sessions/SES0DEEC4SCCB1B/session-1-proto-sinaitic-and-wadi-el-hol-seeded-corpus) · 31 Oct 2026

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