The only place in the United States to view the oldest complete alphabetic sentence ever found is at Southern Adventist University, thanks to a loan from Israel Antiquities Authority and The Israel Museum. Coming to campus January 27, a small but linguistically valuable comb dating to 1700 BC and named the #1 discovery in biblical archaeology will be on exhibit at the Lynn H. Wood Archaeological Museum in Hackman Hall beginning January 27 through May 2, 2025. The museum will be open from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and later from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Southern’s “Lice and Literacy at Lachish” showcase reveals the story of the ivory artifact uncovered by a Southern student during the 2016 excavation at Tel Lachish that increased in significance in 2022 when shallow scratches were noticed on the ivory and confirmed as wording by an epigrapher. Featured in The New York Times and Smithsonian as well as by CNN and BBC, the inscribed sentence reads “May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard” in the Canaanite language, a predecessor to all modern alphabets.

If you're curious to learn more about this comb measuring the size of a large postage stamp, join the free symposium on Monday evening, January 27, at 5:30 p.m. in Lynn Wood Hall Chapel on campus for a brief history of Lachish and Canaanite inscriptions, information about the discovery of the comb and its origins, the decipherment of its inscription, and the significance of the alphabet and global communication. For additional information, visit southern.edu/museum.