The Lachish early alphabetic texts: the 2018 bowl sherd and the ivory comb

Not kept here. This copy isn't ours to show. See it where it's published.

Two objects from Tel Lachish that anchor the descendant Canaanite script. The sherd is a 40 by 35 mm rim fragment of a Cypriot White Slip II bowl with six ink letters in two lines, from a stratum radiocarbon-dated to about 1460-1430 BC. The comb is an ivory lice comb with seventeen shallowly incised letters read as a wish that it root out lice from hair and beard; it has no stratigraphic date and is placed about 1700 BC on letter forms.

Höflmayer, Misgav, Webster and Streit, 1460. CC BY 4.0

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Open-access photographs and drawings (höflmayer et al. 2021)Höflmayer, Misgav, Webster and Streit · doi.org · 2021 · CC BY 4.0Primary source: Early alphabetic writing in the ancient Near East: the 'missing link' from Tel Lachish1 step from the original

Where it's published

Where it was made

Tel Lachish · Tell

Sources 2

Cite it

Mysteries Department. (2026). The Lachish early alphabetic texts: the 2018 bowl sherd and the ivory comb [Artifact ART0DEDT7ARBYRC]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ART0DEDT7ARBYRC

@misc{mysteriesdept_art0dedt7arbyrc,
  title     = {The Lachish early alphabetic texts: the 2018 bowl sherd and the ivory comb},
  author    = {{Mysteries Department}},
  year      = {2026},
  note      = {Artifact, catalog key ART0DEDT7ARBYRC},
  url       = {https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ART0DEDT7ARBYRC}
}