# Serabit el-Khadim proto-Sinaitic inscriptions

The Serabit el-Khadim proto-Sinaitic inscriptions are about 30 early alphabetic inscriptions in proto-Sinaitic script found at or in the vicinity of Serabit el-Khadim on the Sinai Peninsula.

## Description

   The excavations at Serabit and the non-Egyptian character of the ancient hill sanctuary supplied new material for reflection.
Lina Eckenstein, A History of Sinai, 1921
Romanus François Butin of Catholic University of America published articles in the Harvard Theological Review based on the 1927 Harvard Mission to Serabit and the 1930 Harvard-Catholic University Joint Expedition. His article "The Serabit Inscriptions: II. The Decipherment and Significance of the Inscriptions" provides an early detailed study of the inscriptions and some dozen black and white photographs, hand-drawings and analysis of the previously published inscriptions, #346, 349, 350–354, and three new inscriptions, #355–368. At that time, #355 was still in situ at Serabit but had not been photographed by the previous Harvard Mission. In 1932, he wrote:
   The present article was begun with the limited purpose of making known the new inscriptions discovered by the Harvard-Catholic University Joint Expedition to Serabit in the spring of 1930. In the course of this study, I perceived that some signs doubtful in the inscriptions already published were made clear by the new slabs, and I decided to go over the entire field again.

## Table of inscriptions

All the inscriptions published between 1916 and 1936 were given identification numbers following those of Gardiner's initial 1916 publication. Gardiner's numbers 1–344 were objects from Sinai with unrelated Egyptian inscriptions, so the Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions numbering began at 345. Future scholars continued this numbering scheme for ease of reference.
| Name | Object | Images | Images | Location | Location | Location | Discovery | Discovery |
| Name | Object | Sketch | Photo | Original | Current | ID | Discoverer | Publication |
| 345 | Sphinx | | | Serabit, Hathor temple | British Museum | EA41748 | 1906, Petrie | 1916, Gardiner |
| 346 | Statuette | | | Serabit, Hathor temple | Egyptian Museum | 38268 | 1906, Petrie | 1916, Gardiner |
| 347 | Two sphinx heads | | | Serabit, Hathor temple | Art & History Museum (Brussels) | – | 1906, Petrie | 1916, Gardiner |
| 348 | Unknown | | | Wadi Magharah | Lost | – | 1868, Palmer | 1904, Weill |
| 349 | Rock panel | | | Serabit, Mine L | Egyptian Museum | 52511 | 1906, Petrie | 1916, Gardiner |
| 350 | Rock panel | | | Serabit, Mine L | Egyptian Museum | 51517 | 1906, Petrie | 1916, Gardiner |
| 351 | Rock panel | | | Serabit, Mine L | Egyptian Museum | 52514 | 1906, Petrie | 1916, Gardiner |
| 352 | Rock panel | | | Serabit, Mine L | Egyptian Museum | 52510 | 1906, Petrie | 1916, Gardiner |
| 353 | Rock panel | | | Serabit, Mine L | Egyptian Museum | 51513 or 52515 | 1906, Petrie | 1916, Gardiner |
| 354 | Rock panel | | | Serabit, Mine L | Egyptian Museum | 52510 (partly lost) | 1906, Petrie | 1916, Gardiner |
| 356 | Rock panel | | | Serabit, Mine L | Egyptian Museum | 51513 or 52515 | 1927, Lake | 1928, Butin |
| 357 | Rock panel | | | Serabit, Mine L | In situ | | 1927, Lake | 1928, Butin |
| 358 | | | | Serabit, Mine M | In situ | | 1927, Lake | 1928, Butin |
| 359 | | | | Unknown | Egyptian Museum | 52516 | 1929, Hjelt | |
| 360 | Slab | | | Ridge between Wadi Qattar and Wadi Umm Themeyim | Egyptian Museum | – | 1930, Lake | 1932, Butin |
| 361 | Small rock | | | Serabit, Mine N | Egyptian Museum | – | 1930, Lake | 1932, Butin |
| 362 | Lozenge | | | Serabit, above Mine L | Egyptian Museum | – | 1930, Lake | 1932, Butin |
| 363 | | | | Serabit, south of Mine L | Egyptian Museum | – | 1930, Lake | 1932, Butin |
| 364 | Fragment | | | Serabit, in front of Mine M | Egyptian Museum | – | 1930, Lake | 1932, Butin |
| 365 | palimpsest | | | Serabit, Egyptian camp | Egyptian Museum | – | 1930, Lake | 1932, Butin |
| 367 | Rock panel | | | Serabit, south of Mine L | Egyptian Museum | – | 1930, Lake | 1932, Butin |
| 374 | | | | Serabit, Mine M | Egyptian Museum | 65466 | 1935, Lake | 1936, Butin |
| 375 | | | | Serabit, Mine M | Egyptian Museum | 65467 | 1935, Lake | 1936, Butin |
| Gerster 1 | | | | Wadi Nasb | In situ | | Gerster | 1961, Leibovitch |
| Gerster 2 | | | | Wadi Nasb | In situ | | Gerster | 1961, Leibovitch |
| Disputed (according to Albright): |||||||||
| 355 | | | | | In situ | | 1906, Petrie | 1916, Gardiner |
| 366 | | | | | | | 1930, Lake | 1932, Butin |
| 368 | | | | | | | 1930, Lake | 1932, Butin |
| 369 | Statuette | | | | | | 1930, Lake | 1932, Butin |
| 370 | | | | | | | 1930, Lake | 1932, Butin |
| 371 | | | | | | | 1930, Lake | 1932, Butin |
| 372 | | | | | | | 1930, Lake | 1932, Butin |
| 373 | | | | | | | 1930, Lake | 1932, Butin |