Research team finds important inscription

On January 26, 2025, Martin Klingbeil, D. Litt., Prof. of Old Testament and Director of the Institute of Biblical Archaeology at Friedensau Adventist University, attended a special event at Southern Adventist University (Tennessee, USA). It was the inauguration of an archaeological exhibit at the Lynn H. Wood Archaeological Museum on the university’s campus that featured a rather small object (3,66 cm x 2,51 cm) with a huge impact: a lice comb made of ivory, on which was engraved the oldest alphabetic inscription ever found. The alphabet was invented around 1800 BC in Canaan and the comb is dated to 1700 BC. Out of this first alphabet the Hebrew alphabet developed, which was used to write the Old Testament, and today 75% of the world population are using alphabetic languages that can be traced to these first letters on the lice comb. The comb was found in 2016 during an excavation at the biblical city of Lachish in Israel, co-directed by Prof. Martin Klingbeil, Prof. Yosef Garfinkel (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), and Prof. Michael Hasel (Southern Adventist University). However, it took more than five years of processing the find to discover the inscription, and the writing was first identified by Dr. Madeleine Mumcuoglu in 2022, an associate researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She noticed some shallow scratches on the side of the comb, and by using specialized photography and Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), the inscription finally came to light. One of the world’s most renowned specialist in deciphering ancient Semitic inscriptions, Daniel Vainstub from the Ben Gurion University of the Negev, read and translated the inscription as “May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard.” While we have found inscriptions from the same time period, they usually have been only individual words, and this wish might very well be one of the first complete sentences written in an alphabetic script. When the inscription was announced by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2022, major news-outlets all ove the world reported on it (BBC, New York Times, Die Welt, etc.). The opening of the exhibit included a panel discussion at Southern Adventist University with the participation of the three co-directors of the excavation as well as the individuals involved in the discovery and reading of the inscription. As for the kind wish inscribed on the side of the lice comb: During the processing of the object, microscopic evidence of its usefulness was discovered, namely, the remains of head lice, 0,5-0,6 mm in size, attesting to the successful application of the comb to the hair and beard of the ancient Canaanites who used it.

Figure 1: Katherine Hesler, former archaeology student at Southern Adventist University, now PhD candidate in archaeology, describes the moment when the lice comb was found in 2016 in her excavation square.

Figure 2: Prof. Martin Klingbeil participating in the panel discussion together with Katherine Hesler (Lipscomb University), Madeleine Mumcuoglu (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Daniel Vainstub (Ben Gurion University of the Negev), and Christopher Rollston (George Washington University).

Figure 3: Lice comb in display case with drawing of the inscription and translation.

Figure 4: RTI Photo of Lice Comb (Israel Antiquities Authority).