Israeli researchers have discovered a 3,700-year-old inscription on an ivory lice comb. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) announced on Wednesday that this is the oldest written sentence in Canaanite found in Israel to date.
“May this tusk eradicate the lice in hair and beard,” says the find, which dates to about 1700 BC. “The inscription is direct evidence of the use of the alphabet in everyday life some 3,700 years ago. This is a milestone in the history of the human ability to write,” says Josef Garfinkel of HU. The archaeologist was involved in the excavations.
In addition, the finding indicates that even people with a high social status suffered from lice. Ivory was a very expensive material at that time. The small comb measures about 3.5 by 2.5 centimeters and was found in 2017, according to the university statement. However, the inscription was only discovered this year during post-processing.
In Israel, single words in the Canaanite language had previously been discovered, but never a complete meaningful sentence, according to the researchers. Thus, the alphabet was invented around 1800 BC and used by the Canaanites and later by many other languages of the world. The now extinct language belongs to the Semitic languages and is related to Hebrew. (cpf/sda/dpa)
Soource :Watson
I’m Ella Sammie, author specializing in the Technology sector. I have been writing for 24 Instatnt News since 2020, and am passionate about staying up to date with the latest developments in this ever-changing industry.
