This week in the news there have been several articles about another inscription found at Lachish in southern Israel.

I first dug at Lachish in the summer of 2015, so it is always interesting to find out more information about the site.

Over the years there have been many inscriptions found at Lachish.

An early 12th century BCE Canaanite alphabet inscription found at Lachish in 2014. (courtesy of Yossi Garfinkel, Hebrew University)

The picture above is from an article in the The Times of Israel. The article told about the importance of this find and how it helps researchers understand the development of the alphabet.

Archaeologists at work excavating the biblical city of Lachish, where an early 12th century BCE Canaanite alphabet inscription was found in 2014. (courtesy of Yossi Garfinkel, Hebrew University)

This picture was taken several weeks after we were at the dig, so it is interesting to see how much work had been done. You can see the area where we had dug under the sunshade at the far left of the picture.

I dug at Lachish again in 2016. In 2017 I took a tour of Israel with some friends, but we did stop by Lachish and walk around the site.

A 17th century BCE inscription in early Canaanite script from Lachish, incised on an ivory lice comb. (Dafna Gazit, Israel Antiquities Authority)

The inscription that is in the news this week is from very near where we were digging before. The inscription is on a comb that was found in 2017. However, the inscription was not discovered until 2021.

The comb is made from ivory and was used as a lice comb. The inscription is in proto-Canaanite and reads “May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard.”

You can find out more at the following link: Times of Israel Article about comb

On a dig in 2018 I enjoyed several long conversation with Dr. Madeleine Mumcuoglu who found the inscription. It is great to see news about her work. She found the inscription while analyzing several combs for lice residue.

Inscriptions were also found at Tel Lachish during previous expeditions. The bowl above has an inscription from an even earlier time than the inscription that was found in 2014.

You can read more about this inscription and others by clicking on the link to my post Ancient Inscriptions.

I also used this picture of a jug with an inscription in my Ancient Inscriptions post. Both the bowl and the jug are on display at the Israel Museum.

It is exciting to read about artifacts that are found near where I was digging, or at a site where I have dug or visited.

I look forward to more in the future.

Steven