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Oldest known sentence written in first alphabet discovered – on a head-lice comb

You are here: Home / In the Press (all articles) / Oldest known sentence written in first alphabet discovered – on a head-lice comb

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November 14, 2022 //  by NPA

It’s a simple sentence that captures the hopes and fears of modern-day parents as much as the bronze age Canaanite who owned the doubled-edged ivory comb on which the words appear.

Believed to be the oldest known sentence written in the earliest alphabet, the inscription on the luxury item reads: “May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard.”

Unearthed in Lachish, a Canaanite city state in the second millennium BCE and the second most important city in the kingdom of Judah, the comb suggests that humans have endured lice for thousands of years and that even the wealthiest were not spared the grim infestations.

“The inscription is very human,” said Prof Yosef Garfinkel, an archaeologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who helped direct the Lachish excavations. “You have a comb and on the comb you have a wish to destroy lice on the hair and beard. Nowadays we have all these sprays and modern medicines and poisons. In the past they didn’t have those…”

The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/nov/09/oldest-known-written-sentence-discovered-on-a-head-lice-comb

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National Pediculosis Association,® Inc.

National Pediculosis Association Mission Statement

The NPA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated since 1983 to protecting children, their families and their environment from the misuse and abuse of prescription and over-the-counter pesticide treatments for lice and scabies.

Pediculosis (the medical term for an infestation of lice) provides a public health opportunity to teach important lessons about communicable disease preparedness, responsible personal behaviors, environmental health, and the importance of learning about pharmaceutical remedies before using them on our children and ourselves.

NPA is committed to setting the highest possible public health standards for children as they relate to the communicability and treatment of head lice. NPA has been the leader in raising pediculosis as a public health priority and a pioneer in public health education and research on pediculosis.

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The NPA developed the LiceMeister® comb in 1997 to accomplish its mission by providing a higher standard for lice combing tools and a safe, cost-effective treatment alternative to pesticides. All proceeds from sales of the LiceMeister comb allow the NPA to be self-sustaining and independent from product manufacturers while accomplishing its mission of protecting children from the misuse and abuse of pesticide treatments for lice.

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