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

> 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…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/artifacts/ART0DEDT7ARBYRC/the-lachish-early-alphabetic-texts-the-2018-bowl-sherd-and  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

---

[Mysteries](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries)[Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic)[Artifacts](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic#artifacts)The Lachish early alphabetic texts: the 2018 bowl sherd and the ivory comb

**ART** 0DEDT7ARBYRC·Artifact · object

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

ObjectCC BY 4.0Sherd: c. 1460-1430 BC (radiocarbon, Bayesian model)

[Cite]

**Not kept here.** This copy isn't ours to show. [See it where it's published](https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2020.157).

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

## Copies 1

**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 Lachish](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJBQ3YBSS/early-alphabetic-writing-in-the-ancient-near-east-the)1 step from the original

[Where it's published](https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2020.157)

## Where it was made

[Tel Lachish](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/places/PLC0DEDPXDA5SVX/tel-lachish) · Tell

## Sources 2

- [A Canaanite's Wish to Eradicate Lice on an Inscribed Ivory Comb from Lachish](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJD8RMCGG/a-canaanites-wish-to-eradicate-lice-on-an-inscribed-ivory)_SRC_
- [Early alphabetic writing in the ancient Near East: the 'missing link' from Tel Lachish](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDJBQ3YBSS/early-alphabetic-writing-in-the-ancient-near-east-the)_SRC_

## 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
```

Key

**ART** 0DEDT7ARBYRC

Kind

Object

Held by

Israel Antiquities Authority

Dated

sherd: c. 1460-1430 BC (radiocarbon, Bayesian model); comb: c. 1700 BC (palaeography only)

Licence

CC BY 4.0

Place

[Tel Lachish](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/places/PLC0DEDPXDA5SVX/tel-lachish)

Part of

[Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic)

The record

Every record is open data. Take this one as JSON, with its links and its history.

[JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/api/v1/records/ART0DEDT7ARBYRC)