A very old ode to a great lice-destroyer

'May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard.' As a sentence, it's more coherent, more functional and certainly more well-constructed than communication that's passed off as tweets. It's also significantly older than the first social media message. This inscription is borne on a comb made of ivory - thus, the 'tusk' - that was dug up in 2017 from the archaeological site of Lachish in today's Israel. The sentence on the 3,700-odd-year-old comb, according to a paper published in the latest issue of the Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology, is the oldest surviving sentence. It is in the Canaanite script, known to be the earliest alphabet, invented some 3,800 years ago. And, no, no Vedic connotations have been drawn on the discovery yet.

Interestingly, this puts the humble louse under the spotlight. As a personal grooming and hygiene device, the double- edged ivory comb-cum-lice destroyer - or, at least, the ivory material itself - must have been an import as elephants were not found in that region at that time. But, clearly, humans and lice had cohabited (non-peacefully). While many may find the inscription underwhelming - no invocation to any god, no salutation to any king - it actually redoubles our faith in the power of everyday life and its history. The war against lice is now confirmed to be an ancient one.