Archaeologists have discovered the first known sentence in history. The writing, which appeared about 3,800 years ago and was written in the oldest alphabet, was deciphered by experts after 5 years of work.
The oldest sentence written in the first known alphabet has been deciphered.
The first known sentence in history is written on a lice comb thought to date back to 1800 BC.
The inscription on a 3,700-year-old comb carved from elephant ivory reads, “May this tooth uproot hair and beard lice.”
The words are written in Canaanite, the oldest alphabetic system known to have been used in the eastern Mediterranean region around 1800 BC.
ANALYZED FOR 5 YEARS
The 3.5-centimeter by 2.5-centimeter comb was unearthed in 2017 in the ruins of an ancient Canaanite city-state called Lachish. The 17-letter inscription was only discovered this year after the comb was cleaned for preservation.
“THIS INSCRIPTION IS VERY HUMAN”
Archaeologist Yosef Garfinkel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who led the study, said, “You have a comb and on the comb is written your wish to remove lice from the hair and beard.
Today we have sprays, modern medicines and poisons. In the past, these things did not exist.”
The comb is worn and has lost many of its teeth. However, the remaining traces show that it had 6 widely spaced teeth for separating tangled hair and 14 narrowly spaced teeth for removing lice.
A SIGN OF WEALTH
According to researchers, ancient combs were made of wood, bone and ivory. Ivory items were a sign of wealth.
The oldest sentence written in the first alphabet: Engraved on a comb
