Ancient everyday lifeSourced
One very old sentence
is a wish against lice.
A roughly 3,700-year-old Canaanite ivory comb bears a plea to remove lice from hair and beard. Its inscription is considered the earliest known complete sentence in a phonetic alphabet.
Writing history
meets an itchy scalp.
Summary / translation: Unbubly · CC BY-SA 4.0
Source and reuse details
Canaanite ivory comb · Wikimedia contributors
Adapted, summarized and translated from the source. Adapted text is also available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Reviewed: 2026-10-01