What did people living nearly 4,000 years ago do? Perhaps a comb made of ivory can tell us more about that. The crest, which was found by archaeologists in Israel in 2016, has a total of 17 letters. And together these must form a complete and readable sentence. Experts believe this is the oldest alphabetic phrase yet discovered. And what does it say? We can reveal that the content is about hygiene. And that this is a topic that is just as relevant to this day: I can already feel it starting to itch… A familiar phenomenon The language, in which the sentence is written, is Canaanite. It was used by people who lived in the Kingdom of Judah. Today, this area is better known as parts of Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. The letters on the crest are about 1–3 millimeters wide, and they form a kind of prayer. And if you translate them, the prayer reads something like this: “May this tusk weed out lice from hair and beard” In other words, the first written readable sentence we have is about the well-known head louse. – This is evidence of the use of the alphabet in daily activities 3,700 years ago. It is a landmark in the history of man’s ability to write, says Yosef Garfinkel. He is a professor at the Hebrew University in Israel and has led the new study. This is Professor Yosef Garfinkel. Together with colleagues, he has studied the comb under a microscope. Here they found ancient remains of head lice. Photo: Hebrew University A “mysterious” history The first writing systems appeared in Mesopotamia and Egypt around 5,200 years ago. But these systems did not adopt the alphabet. Then signs were used to explain words and syllables. According to researchers, the history of the alphabet is rather mysterious, as there is little archaeological evidence. Nevertheless, experts believe that the alphabet was also invented near Egypt. This is because one recognizes the use of Egyptian hieroglyphs among familiar letters. It is unclear how people used the alphabet during this phase. The earliest texts that have been found are both short and difficult to decipher. This makes the inscription on the ivory comb very important, says Professor Christopher Rollston. – Early alphabetic inscriptions are generally very short, and often consist of the name of a person or an object, he says. He also finds it fascinating that the text is about ordinary daily life. – We see that lice have been a problem throughout human history. We can only hope that this comb was useful and did what it was supposed to: exterminate some of these pesky insects. The inscription in the comb was not discovered until five years after the archaeologists found the tool itself. Photo: Daniel Vainstub A touch of luxury The comb was excavated by Yosef Garfinkel and other archaeologists at the city of Tel Lachish in Israel. The project has become a cross-country collaboration. The comb itself is not very different from today’s plastic or metal lice combs. It measures approximately 3.5 x 2.5 centimeters and has “teeth” on both sides. These tags should still be visible, but much of the material has worn off. One side is said to have been used to untangle tangles in the hair, while the other side, which is more finely serrated, is said to have been used to remove lice. Ivory is said to have been a very expensive material at this time, and was probably imported as a luxury item from Egypt. By studying the comb under a microscope, the researchers found remnants of old head lice. Perhaps it has been there for nearly 4,000 years? To date, ten Canaanite inscriptions have been found in the area of Tel Lachish. The image shows an overview of the area called Tel Lachish in Israel. It was here that the comb was found by archaeologists in 2016. The inscription was only discovered last December. Photo: Emil Aladjem
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May have found the world’s oldest, readable sentence, and it is about head lice – news Trøndelag
