Summary: The first full sentence written with the early alphabet in Canaan has been found on an unexpected object, a comb used for removing lice.
And the Lord said unto Moses, “Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.” – Exodus 8:16 (KJV)
The Comb’s Message
In the ancient world, lice were pervasive and insufferable enough to be chosen by God as the third of the ten plagues of Egypt, as described in the book of Exodus. (The Hebrew word ‘kînnîm’ used in Ex. 8:16 can mean lice, fleas or gnats.) A new discovery of a 3,700-year-old comb with an inscription sheds light not only on the experience of dealing with lice in biblical times, but also on levels of literacy in ancient times.
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) announced Wednesday, November 9th, that an inscription was identified on a comb excavated in Tel Lachish, Israel. Researchers stated that the inscription features the first complete sentence ever found written in the Canaanite dialect.
The ivory comb contains a shallow carving of a hopeful plea to get rid of lice, which was a common occurrence in ancient times even as it is today. The message reads, “May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard.”
But Is It in a “Canaanite” Language
As featured in our Moses Controversy film, the alphabet was invented around a century before this comb was inscribed and used in Canaan. The alphabet would eventually be used by most languages in the world. This is an exciting find because even though ten Canaanite inscriptions have been found in Lachish, more than at any other site in Israel, never has a full sentence been discovered until now.
Of course, as with all things in history, dating systems and paradigms impact how this item is interpreted. Many items that are labeled “Canaanite” by scholars may actually be Israelite, since in the standard view the Israelites did not enter (or emerge from) the land of Canaan until about 1200 BC. However, there is strong evidence for the Conquest of Canaan by Israelites centuries earlier. Other Semitic inscriptions have been found at Lachish from the following centuries that have been categorized as “Canaanite,” even though they are completely consistent with an Israelite origin of the alphabet and the history of Israel presented in the Bible.
Although archaeologists have dated the Lachish comb to the 17th century BC (the 16 hundreds BC – near the end of the Middle Bronze Age), the dating was based on writing style alone, because it was found in a dump with a mixed archaeological context.
Some scholars think this actually dates to a time two to three centuries later. In any case, this is evidence of the earliest known alphabet spreading north to Canaan from the Egypt/Sinai region where it emerged late in Egypt’s Middle Kingdom. It is Canaanite in the sense that it comes from Canaan, but since there is little to distinguish different branches of Semitic languages at this early date, what ethnic group it may belong to is uncertain. There seems to be nothing to disconnect this comb from other items found at the site that have been connected to the early Israelites, dispite the fact that this idea is dismissed by the majority of scholars who continue to label any find from this time “Canaanite.”
“This is the first sentence ever found in the Canaanite language in Israel,” said Professor Yosef Garfinkel of HU. “There are Canaanites in Ugarit in Syria, but they write in a different script, not the alphabet that is used till today.”
“The Canaanite cities are mentioned in Egyptian documents, the Amarna letters that were written in Akkadian, and in the Hebrew Bible,” he added. “The comb inscription is direct evidence for the use of the alphabet in daily activities some 3700 years ago. This is a landmark in the history of the human ability to write.”
The artifact was unearthed at Tel Lachish in 2017 by a team of archaeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) and the Southern Adventist University in Tennessee, under the direction of professors Yosef Garfinkel, Michael Hasel and Martin Klingbeil.
The inscription, with 17 letters measuring just two to three millimeters, was engraved in a very shallow manner, thus contributing to the fact that even though the comb was excavated in 2017, the letters were not noticed until a subsequent post-processing in 2022 by Dr. Madeleine Mumcuoglu, a research associate at HU’s Institute of Archaeology.
The inscription was deciphered by Semitic epigraphist Dr. Daniel Vainstub at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in Beersheba. The ivory was tested by HU Prof. Rivka Rabinovich and BGU Prof. Yuval Goren and found to originate from an elephant tusk.
These findings were published in the Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology under the title “A Canaanite’s Wish to Eradicate Lice on an Inscribed Ivory Comb from Lachish.”
An Expensive Luxury Item
Ancient combs were made from wood, bone or ivory. Ivory was an extremely expensive material, as there were no elephants in Canaan during this time period and most likely was imported from Egypt. This small ivory comb was a luxury item, indicating that even people of high social status suffered from lice.
The engraver’s astonishing skill in successfully carving such tiny letters on the comb is a phenomenon that aids in any future attempts to summarize and draw conclusions on literacy in Canaan in the Bronze Age.
Even though the comb is damaged, the artifact still shows the base of six large teeth on one side for untangling hair and 14 very fine teeth on the other side for removing lice and their eggs. These types of two-sided combs are still in use and can be found in Israeli pharmacies and stores today.
Even though this object is 3,700 years old, researchers were still able to identify the remains of lice, 0.5 to 0.6 millimeters in size, found on the second tooth of the comb, proving that this item accomplished its job description.
Tel Lachish
The inscribed comb was found at Lachish, a major Canaanite and Israelite city, located in the lowlands of Judah on the southern bank of the Lachish River. The city is mentioned several times in the Old Testament books of Joshua, 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Nehemiah, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Micah.
One famous account including Lachish is given in Joshua 10. God made the sun stand still until Israel won the battle against the Amorite city of Lachish along with four other cities who were attacking Gibeon.
So Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron, to Piram king of Jarmuth, to Japhia king of Lachish, and to Debir king of Eglon, saying, “Come up to me and help me, and let us strike Gibeon. For it has made peace with Joshua and with the people of Israel.” – Joshua 10:3-4 (ESV)
On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies. – Joshua 10:12-13
Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Libnah to Lachish and laid siege to it and fought against it. And the Lord gave Lachish into the hand of Israel, and he captured it on the second day and struck it with the edge of the sword. – Joshua 10:31-32a
After the Israelites moved into Canaan, the territory of Lachish became part of the tribe of Judah as the second most important city, besides its capital, Jerusalem. Jeremiah writes that it was one of the last cities standing when the Babylonians took over.
Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah, in Jerusalem, when the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, Lachish and Azekah, for these were the only fortified cities of Judah that remained. – Jeremiah 34:6-8
Today, Lachish is a national park, run and cared for by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.
Conclusion
Despite its small size, the inscription on the comb from Lachish has very special features, some of which are unique and fill in gaps in previous knowledge of many aspects of the culture at this time.
For the first time, researchers have an entire sentence written in the dialect spoken by the Israelites and other groups in Canaan, making it possible to compare the language in all its aspects with the other sources for it. The writing on the comb also sheds light on some aspects of daily life at the time that were unknown until now, including haircare and dealing with lice. This is also the first discovery in the region of an inscription referring to the purpose of the object on which it was written, unlike dedicatory or ownership inscriptions.
It is enough to make us want to Keep Thinking!
TOP PHOTO: The ivory comb with one of the earliest sentences written using an alphabet. (credit: Dafna Gazit/ IAA)
