Tel Lachish
תל לכיש / Tell ed-Duweir
Israel · Southern District
In brief
Lachish was an important centre first among the Canaanite city-states and later within the Kingdom of Judah. Alongside walls and temples, excavations have yielded objects relating to the use of early alphabetic writing.
What was found?
- 1Ivory comb with a Canaanite inscription
It is a double-sided comb bearing a sentence expressing a wish to remove lice from the hair and beard. Researchers date the inscription to approximately 1700 BCE; the remains of a louse were also detected on one of its teeth.
- 2Monumental city gate
Gate structures from different phases and sections of the six-chambered gate were uncovered during excavations. The remains allow the architecture and transformation of the Iron Age city entrance to be traced.
- 3Assyrian siege ramp
The ramp, constructed by piling stones against the city's slope, is associated with the Assyrian siege of 701 BCE. It documents the engineering solution used to bring siege engines close to the walls.
- 4Lakiş letters
Letters written on pottery sherds found in the gate area preserve military communications in ancient Hebrew. They provide information about troop movements, patrols and signal stations.
What does it point to?
The inscribed comb shows that the alphabet could be used for an everyday subject such as personal grooming. The gate, siege ramp and letters present a picture of a city in which defensive architecture and military communications can be studied together.
What did it teach us?
- Documented that early alphabetic writing could be used to compose a complete sentence on an everyday object.
- The louse remains on the comb directly linked the object's use to the problem mentioned in the inscription.
- Revealed physical traces of Assyrian siege techniques through a surviving ramp.
- Showed that pottery sherds were used as writing material for military correspondence.
Images
Latest news / selected archive
In 2022, it was announced that a complete Canaanite sentence expressing a wish to be rid of lice had been read on an ivory comb previously found during excavation and dated to approximately 1700 BCE.
Record
- Culture
- Canaanite; Judahite
- First modern dig
- 1932
- Team / historical
- Yosef Garfinkel, Michael Hasel, and Martin Klingbeil; Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Southern Adventist University
- Coordinates
- 31.5650°, 34.8489°
Sources
- en.parks.org.il
- openscholar.huji.ac.il
- jjar.huji.ac.il
- en.wikipedia.org
- İsrail Eski Eserler İdaresi — Tel Lakiş kapı meydanı kazı raporu
Nearby excavations
- Tel Ashkelon 31 km
- Ancient Jericho / Tell es-Sultan 66 km
- Hisham's Palace 68 km
- Caesarea Maritima 104 km
- Ain Ghazal 116 km
- Tel Megiddo 118 km
- —
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- 12.000
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