Oldest legible sentence written with first alphabet is about head lice

2 years ago 104

The aboriginal adopters of the alphabet cared astir their idiosyncratic hygiene, judging by the inscription connected the broadside of an past ivory comb

Humans 9 November 2022

By Colin Barras

The oldest readable condemnation written utilizing the archetypal alphabet has been recovered connected the broadside of an ivory comb. The words are cautiously inscribed successful letters 1 to 3 millimetres wide and instrumentality the signifier of a plea: “May this tusk basal retired the lice of the hairsbreadth and the beard.”

Writing emerged successful Mesopotamia and Egypt astir 5200 years ago. These aboriginal penning systems were non-alphabetic: They mostly utilized signs to correspond words and syllables. The alphabet came later. It was astir apt invented successful oregon adjacent Egypt, with definite ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics being repurposed to signifier the acquainted alphabetic letters – each of which represents a tiny portion of code called a phoneme.

The earliest past of the alphabet is mysterious due to the fact that of a deficiency of archaeological evidence. It isn’t adjacent wide precisely erstwhile the alphabet was invented: Many researchers reason for a day astir 3800 years ago, but determination is immoderate grounds the alphabet was successful usage arsenic aboriginal arsenic 4300 years ago. It is besides mostly unclear however radical utilized the alphabet, due to the fact that the earliest texts we person recovered are abbreviated and hard to decipher. This is wherefore the inscription connected the ivory comb is truthful important.

Yosef Garfinkel astatine the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and his colleagues unearthed the comb successful 2016 astatine Tel Lachish, an archaeological tract successful confederate Israel. It came from a level of the tract dating backmost astir 2700 years, but from the benignant of the penning engraved connected the comb, Garfinkel’s squad argues this peculiar artefact is astir 1000 years older.

The penning comprised 17 letters, 2 of which were damaged. Crucially, they look to signifier a implicit and understandable condemnation written successful an past Canaanite connection spoken at Tel Lachish. “This is the earliest condemnation we person successful the alphabet,” says Garfinkel. The erstwhile oldest known condemnation is astir 400 years younger than the 1 connected the comb.

Christopher Rollston astatine George Washington University successful Washington DC says it is simply a important discovery. “Early alphabetic inscriptions are mostly precise little – conscionable a fistful of letters – and often dwell of the sanction of a idiosyncratic oregon the sanction of an object,” helium says. A fewer longer inscriptions beryllium from the aforesaid clip play arsenic the comb, but researchers person struggled to work them due to the fact that it is unclear what the texts were about.

Rollston says it was easier for Garfinkel’s squad to work the recently discovered inscription due to the fact that it was carved connected a comb that inactive carries bits of the exoskeletons of dormant lice, offering clues astir the text’s apt taxable matter. “This does not alteration the information that this is inactive a superb decipherment,” says Rollston.

He besides finds it fascinating that the inscription is astir mean life. “Throughout quality history, lice person been a problem,” says Rollston. “We tin lone anticipation that this inscribed comb was utile successful doing that which it says it was expected to do: Root retired immoderate of these pesky insects.”

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

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