Hebrew language debate the degree to which Hebrew was a spoken vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile, when the predominant international language in the region was Old Aramaic. Hebrew was extinct as a colloquial language by Late Antiquity, but it continued to be used as a literary language and as the liturgical language of Judaism, evolving various dialects of literary Medieval Hebrew, until its revival as a spoken language in the late 19th century. In July 2008 Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa which he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating
Academy of the Hebrew Language Academy of the Hebrew Language The Academy of the Hebrew Language (, "ha-akademya la-lashon ha-ivrit") was established by the Israeli government in 1953 as the "supreme institution for scholarship on the Hebrew language in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem of Givat Ram campus." It is an educational institution with the mission of creating new Hebrew words to ensure that the language does not die out. The Academy replaced the Hebrew Language Committee (Vaʻad ha-lashon ha-ʻIvrit) established in 1890 by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, who was its first president. As Hebrew became the spoken language in Palestine and was adopted by the educational