(Photo: Dafna Gazit/Israel Antiquities Authority)
By Abigail Klein Leichman - November 10, 2022
Apparently, head lice are not only a modern problem.
An ivory comb unearthed at the Tel Lachish National Park archeological site in Israel is inscribed with the first complete sentence in Canaanite pictographic language ever discovered: “May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard.”
This discovery is quite significant, considering that the alphabet was invented around 1800 BCE, and the comb dates from only 100 years later.
The amazing find was unearthed by archeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) and Southern Adventist University in the United States, under the direction of Professors Yosef Garfinkel, Michael Hasel and Martin Klingbeil.
“This is the first sentence ever found in the Canaanite language in Israel,” said Garfinkel.
“The comb inscription is direct evidence for the use of the alphabet in daily activities some 3,700 years ago. This is a landmark in the history of the human ability to write.”
Read More: Israel21c