Discovered the oldest phrase written in the alphabet in history .. and it’s magic
The oldest known written phrase was found by archaeologists, according to a press release published on November 8 regarding a new study published in the Jerusalem Journal of Archeology . The extraordinary discovery features an entire Canaanite phrase from around 1700 BC and may be the first written phrase in the history of mankind.
Engraved on a lice comb, the researchers deciphered the phrase as: "May this bone eradicate hair and beard lice," which they believe may actually be a spell.
Under the leadership of professors Yosef Garfinkel, Michael Hasel and Martin Klingbeil, a team from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) and Southern Adventist University in the United States discovered the comb at Tel Lachish in Israel.
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“ This is the first sentence ever found in the Canaanite language in Israel. There are Canaanites in Ugarit in Syria, but they write in a different, syllabic script, not in the alphabet used to date. Canaanite cities are mentioned in Egyptian documents, in Amarna letters written in Akkadian and in the Hebrew Bible, ”said Professor Yosef Garfinkel. “ The comb inscription is direct evidence of the use of the alphabet in daily activities some 3,700 years ago. This is a milestone in the history of the human ability to write “.
The fact that the written sentence has a magical value should not be surprising: one of the first sentences in Latin, inscribed on the Vaso di Dueno, is a curse " He who sends me implores the gods that the maidens do not grant you favors / if you do not want to be satisfied by Tutera. A good made me do a good thing and for a good it is not a bad thing to offer me “. Evidently writing has always had a magical value among the ancients.
The Canaanites were the first to use the alphabet, which was later adopted by most other languages around the world, around 1800 BC
The study's epigraphist, or interpreter, Dr. Daniel Vainstub, said in The Times of Isreal, "the inscription of the comb is written in the style that characterized the very early development of the alphabet." He also explained that lice were the third of the ten plagues of Egypt and also affected the Canaanites. Some linguistic discoveries are found here for the first time in a Canaanite inscription, Vainstub also added. “I discovered the letter 'Sin': the Canaanites had a special letter for it. Here [on the lice comb] we have that letter ”, which corresponds to modern Hebrew“ Shis ”. Here is the inscription
The letters of the inscription were carved with superficial scratches. While unearthed in 2017, Dr. Madeleine Mumcuoglu only saw the letters after post-processing in 2022. Both sides of the comb have teeth. The comb teeth themselves were shattered in antiquity, but the bases were still visible. The middle section of the comb has been slightly eroded, presumably due to the strain of the fingers holding the comb during hair care or the removal of lice from the head or beard. Under the microscope, the study group examined the comb for the presence of lice and photographed both sides. On the second tooth, 0.5-0.6 mm lice remains were discovered.
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The article Discovered the oldest written phrase in the alphabet in history .. and it's a magic comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/scoperta-la-piu-antica-frase-scritta-in-alfabeto-nella-storia-ed-e-una-magia/ on Thu, 10 Nov 2022 12:19:12 +0000.