The alphabet was used by most other languages in the world after the invention of the Babylonians. There were only two or three words in the Land of Israel. An amazing discovery shows an entire sentence from the 1700s. There is a spell against lice on the comb.
The comb was unearthed at Tel Lachish in Israel by a team from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The inscription was deciphered by a doctor. The ivory came from an elephant tusk. Their work was published in a journal.
The letters were engraved in a way that was very shallow. The letters were only noticed in the post-processing after the excavation. It was preserved.
The ivory comb is small There are two teeth on the comb. The combs themselves were broken in antiquity. The central part of the comb may have been damaged by the pressure of fingers holding the comb. The side with six thick teeth was used to untangle knots in the hair, while the other side with 14 fine teeth was used to remove the eggs from the hair.
The combs have 17 letters on them. From the beginning of the invention of the alphabet script, they are archaic. They wrote "may this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard"
This is the first sentence in the Hebrew language. There are people in Syria who write in a different script than the ones who use the alphabet. The Egyptian documents mention the cities, as well as the letters that were written in Akkadian. The comb inscription shows that the alphabet was used in daily activities over three thousand years ago. Garfinkel said that this is a landmark in the history of writing.
Wood, bone, or ivory were used to make ancient combs. It was probably an imported luxury object that was made of ivory. The comb may have come from Egypt as there were no elephants in the area.
A research team analyzed the comb under a microscope and took pictures of both sides. The second tooth contained the remains of head louse. The nymph stage head louse was the only part of the body that could be preserved.
Some of the features on the comb from Lachish are unique and fill in gaps in our knowledge of the culture of the Bronze Age. For the first time, we have a complete verbal sentence written in the dialect spoken by the inhabitants of Lachish, which allows us to compare it with other sources for it. The inscription on the comb sheds light on some aspects of the everyday life of the time.
This is the first instance of an inscription referring to the purpose of an object on which it was written. From now on, the engraver's skill in successfully executing such tiny letters should be considered in any attempt to summarize and draw conclusions on literacy in the Bronze Age.
The second most important city in the Kingdom of Judah was Lachish. More than any other site in Israel, 10 inscriptions from the Canaanites have been found in Lachish. The city was the main center for the preservation of the alphabet over 600 years ago. Tel Lachish is protected by the Israel Nature and Parks authority.
The Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology has more information on Daniel Vainstub's A Canaanite's Wish to Eradicate Lice on an InscribedIvoryComb. There is a DOI titled: 10.52486/01.00002.
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