[13] However, the Phoenician, Hebrew, and other Canaanite dialects were largely indistinguishable before the 11th century BC, and the writing system is essentially identical.
[14] According to Finkelstein and Sass (2013), based on archeological contexts of inscriptions, the Proto-Canaanite alphabet spread and developed as follows.
The alphabet also spread out of Philistia to the Beit She'an Valley and Phoenicia, but there still were not any recognizable regional variants.
[16] A possible example of Proto-Canaanite, the inscription on the Ophel pithos, was found in 2012 on a pottery storage jar during the excavations of the south wall of the Temple Mount by Israeli archaeologist Eilat Mazar in Jerusalem.
[17] Other inscriptions include the Lachish Dagger, Gezer Sherd, Schechem Plaque, Nagila Sherd, Izbet Sartah Ostracon, Raddana Handle, Revadim Seal, El-Khadr Arrowheads 1-5, and the Ahiram Sarcophagus.