4,000-year-old Canaanite hair care advice discovered on lice comb in Israel

The earliest discovered sentence in the ancient language of Canaanite has been uncovered in Israel on an ivory comb used to remove lice and eggs – dating back to 1700 BC. 

The sentence includes a spell against lice, with the seven words reading “May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard.”

The ivory comb was discovered in Tel Lachish in Israel, which used to be a major Canaanite city state in the second millennium BCE. It was also the second most important city in the Biblical Kingdom of Judah.

It’s not the first time ancient Canaanite inscriptions have been found in Lachish. In fact, 10 discoveries have been made to date.

According to Hebrew University, who participated in the discovery, Lachish used to be a major centre for the use and preservation of the alphabet during some 600 years, from 1,800-1,150 BCE.

Professor Yosef Garfinkel, who was part of the team, said it’s the first time a sentence in the Canaanite language has been found in Israel. Other inscriptions discovered in Israel usually only contain up to two or three words.

“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,” Garfinkel said.

“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,” he added.

A closer look at the comb, which originate from an elephant tusk, reveal that the side of the comb with six thick teeth was used to untangle knots
in the hair. The other side, with 14 fine teeth, was used to remove lice and their eggs, similar to the ones found in today’s stores.

The discovery was made by a team from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Southern Adventist University in the U.S. under the direction of Professors Yosef Garfinkel, Michael Hasel and Martin Klingbeil. The inscription was deciphered by semitic epigraphist Dr. Daniel Vainstub at Ben Gurion University.

The ivory was tested by HU Prof. Rivka Rabinovich and BGU Prof. Yuval Goren. Their findings were published in Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology.