An ancient inscription discovered on an ivory comb was claimed to be one of the earliest examples of a sentence written using an Alphabet. It would eventually become the 26 letters you’re currently translating into words.
This fine-toothed instrument was discovered several years ago in Tel LachishScientists only just discovered that 17 tiny letters were engraved on the implement in a Canaanite village at the foothills near central Israel.
Together, the barely discernible markings form seven separate words, “ytš ḥṭ ḏ lqml śʿ[r w]”Zqt” roughly means “May this Tusk Root Out the Lice of the Hai.”[r and the] beard”.
The archaeologists found the first sentence that can be trusted in a Canaanite dialect and it is believed to have contained a hopeful message.
This is a huge deal, as the Canaanite script is (The Phoenician alphabet, also known as) is the earliest known example of an alphabet, one that would be adapted and adopted by cultures all over the globe.
These letters are the basis of most modern alphabets. They include Arabic, Greek and Hebrew as well as Latin and Russian.
The pictograms that make up modern Chinese writing are not the only ones. Go back at least 5,000 yearsThe phonetic foundation of words is not always achieved by the system of symbols and radicals it contains.
There are many other examples of Canaanite writing from the early days, but none have been woven into anything meaningful and legible.
“This is a first sentence in the Canaanite Language in Israel.” explainsYosef Garfinkel, an archaeologist from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
“There are Canaanites in Ugarit in Syria, but they write in a different script, not the alphabet that is used till today…. The comb inscription is direct evidence that the alphabet was used in daily life around 3,700 years ago. This is an important landmark in the history and evolution of human writing ability.
The comb is made of elephant tusk ivory. It measures 3.66 cm (1.4 inches) in length and 2.51 cm (1 inch) wide.
Even smaller is the shallow inscription on the body. Some letters measure less than a millimeter. Some letters are so small they’re almost impossible to read without the help of their neighbors.
One side of this comb holds the remains of six large, possibly for hairbrushing. The other side contains remnants 14 of fine, most likely for removing eggs and lice.
A tooth on the finer side of this comb was found to have the hard exterior of an old head louse (below). This isn’t the oldest evidence of head lice ever found – some samples found in human hair date back Minimum 10,000 years – but it does suggest that even wealthy Canaanites were irritated by these creepy crawlies.
The ivory used in the making of the comb was likely imported from Egypt elephants. This suggests that the material was intended for someone who could afford luxury. The findings suggest head lice plagued even the wealthy classes of ancient Jerusalem – so much so that a special comb was fashioned for their eradication.
Spells and hexes are both available Find it writtenIn the Canaanite alphabet, but most curses are directed at humans. Other Canaanite inscriptions found on the same archaeological site date back 1200 to 1400 BCE.
Other Exemples of curses and hexes written in Canaanite letters Have been foundAccessorize more recent artifacts between 1200 BCE and 1400 BCE. In fact, Similar intricaciesThe comb was also found in a jar that was taken from the same site. It is also dated to a longer period.
The inscription on this comb was likely written many centuries before other examples.
Radiometric dating of this ancient comb was unsuccessful. However, based upon other artifacts that were found in the same area, researchers believe the tool was inscribed during the Bronze Age, approximately 3,700 years ago.
Experts can judge from the style of archaic letters. ThinkThe actual words were composed in the “very early stage of the alphabet’s development”, which was not long after the Canaanite alphabet was created.
When humans first had a written language, we began to jinx everything that bothered our hearts.
The study was published by the Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology.
