archeologist in Israel say they have regain the first - hump spell sentence in Canaanite , an alphabet used by the long - agone inhabitants of the region and until now lost to time .
The prison term — comprise 17 Canaanite character , add up seven words — was incised on an ivory combing carved from an elephant tusk . It says : “ May this ivory root out the lice of the hair and the face fungus . ”
The cockscomb was constitute on the site of Tel Lachish , a Bronze Age village about 25 miles from Jerusalem . It ’s about 1.38 inches by 0.98 column inch , though its teeth have long since break-dance off . Details of the book ’s characters and meaning werepublishedtoday in the Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology .
Canaanite lettering on an ancient ivory comb found in Israel.Photo: Dafna Gazit, Israel Antiquities Authority
“ This is the first conviction ever find in the Canaanite linguistic communication in Israel , ” tell Yosef Garfinkel , an archeologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a co - author of the study , in a universityrelease . “ There are Canaanites in Ugarit in Syria , but they publish in a different script , not the first principle that is used till today . ”
In an e-mail to Gizmodo , Garfinkel added that the combing was likely made in Egypt and then brought to Tel Lachish , where a local inscribe the delousing plea .
According to Garfinkel ’s squad , the cockscomb ’s markings are the first integral prison term written in the Canaanite language , one of the first make love alphabet . ( TheSumeriansandEgyptianshad even old script . )
The site of Tel Lachish, where the comb was found.Photo: Emil Aladjem
Like many forward-looking lice combing , the Levantine coxcomb had teeth on both side of meat . One set of teeth was thicker , to untangle and screen out larger bunches of hair’s-breadth . The other set was much o.k. , probable to pull sucking louse and their egg out of the hair .
jubilantly for the comb ’s owner , the tool was doing its business . Under a microscope , researchers notice the remains of head louse on the prick ’s second tooth . If you did n’t find close to the past tense seeing ancient Canaanite writing , perhaps the chitinous tissue layer of a Bronze Age louse will push you over the bank line .
Canaanite inscriptions , but not full sentences , have been find before . At Tel Lachish , archaeologists have found 10 inscriptions so far ( admit the comb ) , more than any other site in Israel .
Time will tell what other ancient penning is waiting to be recover . Perhaps there ’s a Canaanite equivalent ofthe old Sumerian bar jest — rather with the punchline intact .
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