{"id":51657,"date":"2025-01-27T20:27:33","date_gmt":"2025-01-27T20:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/anthropology\/what-do-hair-salons-have-to-do-with-prayer-magic-and-the-development-of-literacy\/"},"modified":"2025-01-27T20:27:33","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T20:27:33","slug":"what-do-hair-salons-have-to-do-with-prayer-magic-and-the-development-of-literacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=51657","title":{"rendered":"What Do Hair Salons Have to Do with Prayer, Magic, and the Development of Literacy?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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It turns out, the first complete sentence ever written by a human (at least, as of what we know now) concerned hair. <\/p>\n

New archaeological evidence \u2014 discovered in Israel in 2016 and analyzed recently \u2014 confirms that \u201cthe oldest instance of a sentence written using the alphabet is on an inscription on an ancient ivory comb<\/a>\u201d \u2014 and it highlighted head lice. <\/p>\n

Some 3,700 years ago, a wealthy man in Tel Lachish, an ancient Canaanite city in the foothills of central Israel, wrote seven words in the Phoenician (or Canaanite) alphabet that can be translated roughly as: \u201cMay this tusk root out the lice of the hair and beard.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The ancient author was not being paranoid: \u201cA tooth of the comb was actually discovered to possess the tough outer shell of a head louse.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n

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From analyzing technical components of the writing, the brilliant archaeologists who discovered this amazing find (Daniel Vainstub et al.) believe that the comb was produced not long after the earliest forms of the Phoenician alphabet was created. Given that the Phoenician alphabet eventually served as the foundation of what became the Latin, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, and Cyrillic alphabets, dare we speculate that modern Western writing systems have their origins in efforts to control the natural world via supernatural means? <\/p>\n

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Another interesting point suggested by this find: The author inscribed his wish on ivory from an elephant\u2019s tusk that would likely have come from Egypt. This provenance suggests that the comb\u2019s owner was wealthy enough to buy a luxury item imported from a distance.<\/p>\n

Four contemporary implications I take away from this fascinating research:<\/p>\n