Ancient writing: Oldest legible sentence written with first alphabet is about head lice

The early adopters of the alphabet cared about their private hygiene, judging by the inscription on the facet of an historical ivory comb

By Colin Barras

The oldest readable sentence written utilizing the primary alphabet has been discovered on the facet of an ivory comb. The phrases are fastidiously inscribed in letters 1 to three millimetres vast and take the type of a plea: “Might this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard.”

Writing emerged in Mesopotamia and Egypt about 5200 years in the past. These early writing methods have been non-alphabetic: They typically used indicators to characterize phrases and syllables. The alphabet got here later. It was in all probability invented in or close to Egypt, with sure historical Egyptian hieroglyphics being repurposed to type the acquainted alphabetic letters – every of which represents a small unit of speech known as a phoneme.

The earliest historical past of the alphabet is mysterious due to a scarcity of archaeological proof. It isn’t even clear precisely when the alphabet was invented: Many researchers argue for a date round 3800 years in the past, however there may be some proof the alphabet was in use as early as 4300 years in the past. It’s also largely unclear how individuals used the alphabet, as a result of the earliest texts now we have discovered are quick and tough to decipher. For this reason the inscription on the ivory comb is so essential.

Yosef Garfinkel on the Hebrew College of Jerusalem and his colleagues unearthed the comb in 2016 at Tel Lachish, an archaeological web site in southern Israel. It got here from a degree of the positioning courting again roughly 2700 years, however from the fashion of the writing engraved on the comb, Garfinkel’s crew argues this explicit artefact is about 1000 years older.

The writing comprised 17 letters, two of which have been broken. Crucially, they appear to type a whole and comprehensible sentence written in an historical Canaanite language spoken at Tel Lachish. “That is the earliest sentence now we have within the alphabet,” says Garfinkel. The earlier oldest recognized sentence is about 400 years youthful than the one on the comb.

Christopher Rollston at George Washington College in Washington DC says it’s a vital discovery. “Early alphabetic inscriptions are usually very temporary – only a handful of letters – and infrequently include the title of an individual or the title of an object,” he says. Just a few longer inscriptions exist from the identical time interval because the comb, however researchers have struggled to learn them as a result of it’s unclear what the texts have been about.

Rollston says it was simpler for Garfinkel’s crew to learn the newly found inscription as a result of it was carved on a comb that also carries bits of the exoskeletons of useless lice, providing clues in regards to the textual content’s doubtless subject material. “This doesn’t change the truth that that is nonetheless an excellent decipherment,” says Rollston.

He additionally finds it fascinating that the inscription is about unusual life. “All through human historical past, lice have been an issue,” says Rollston. “We are able to solely hope that this inscribed comb was helpful in doing that which it says it was speculated to do: Root out a few of these pesky bugs.”

Journal reference: Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology, DOI: 10.52486/01.00002.4

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