At a site south of Jerusalem, archaeologists have found an inscription, “Ishbaal son of Beda,” on a clay storage jar. Ilan Ben Zion explains its significance:
Yosef Garfinkel . . . and Saar Ganor [who co-authored a paper on the inscription] said Tuesday this was the first time an inscription with the name Ishbaal had been discovered.
“It is interesting to note that the name Ishbaal appears in the Bible, and now also in the archaeological record, only during the reign of King David, in the first half of the 10th century BCE. This name was not used later in the First Temple period,” the two said. . . .
Five or six years ago, [Garfinkel] said, there were no known Judean inscriptions from the period associated with the biblical King David; now there are four, including that of Ishbaal.
Read more on Times of Israel: http://www.timesofisrael.com/inscription-bearing-name-from-davidic-era-found-at-ancient-site/