An engraving on an ancient ivory lice comb is the oldest known sentence written in the first alphabet

• An engraving on an ancient lice comb is potentially the oldest known sentence written using an alphabet.
• The ivory comb bears a sentence in an early Canaanite script, estimated to date back almost 4,000 years.

An engraving on an ancient lice comb might be the oldest known sentence written in the first alphabet.

The doubled-edged ivory comb, which was excavated in Israel, bears an engraved inscription wishing away lice, according to researchers writing in the Hebrew University-affiliated Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology.

The inscription in early Canaanite script, made up of 17 letters, reads: "May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard."

Professor Yosef Garfinkel, an archaeologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who helped direct the excavations that discovered the comb, said that the discovery was "a landmark in the history of the human ability to write."

Although attempts to date the comb through carbon dating were unsuccessful, researchers estimate that it dates back to around 1700 BCE.

The small comb, which measures 3.5cm by 2.5cm, was discovered at a site in what was once the ancient Canaanite city of Lachish, the second most important city in the Judean Kingdom.

The purpose of the comb was discovered when researchers examined it under a microscope and discovered the remains of head lice between the teeth of the comb.

Because the comb was made from elephant ivory, an expensive material likely imported from Egypt at the time, it suggests that even people of high social status dealt with lice.

One side of the comb has six thick teeth for untangling hair, and the other side has 14 finer teeth to remove lice and their eggs. The central part of the comb is partly eroded, possibly due to pressure from fingers while holding it, researchers said.

Although it was dug up in 2017, researchers only noticed engravings on the surface in December of last year, which have since been confirmed to be written in the very earliest stage of the Canaanite script.

The Canaanite script is the earliest known alphabet, invented about 3,800 years ago. Earlier known writing systems used symbols to represent words or sounds.

While a few inscribed letters and words have been found previously, this might be the earliest inscription of a full sentence, according to researchers.

"This is the first sentence ever found in the Canaanite language in Israel. There are Canaanites in Ugarit in Syria, but they write in a different script, not the alphabet that is used till today," Professor Garfinkel said in a statement, per the Jewish News Syndicate.

"The Canaanite cities are mentioned in Egyptian documents, the Amarna letters, that were written in Akkadian, and in the Hebrew Bible. The comb inscription is direct evidence for the use of the alphabet in daily activities some 3,700 years ago. This is a landmark in the history of the human ability to write."