Oldest known sentence written on a lice comb

Photograph: Dafna Gazit, Israel Antiquities Authority

It appears that lice have always plagued humans, even the wealthy. 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.”

It was found in Lachish, a leading Canaanite city state in the second millennium BCE.

Read more: The Guardian