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It was a lice comb so probably some sort of prayer/spell/whatever for it to work better. This particular one was ivory so it was for someone wealthy who possibly could have been able to read it. Poorer people would have used wooden combs.

> probably some sort of prayer/spell/whatever for it to work better

Or its like a shampoo bottle and it's written there because the carver felt like it.

Exactly. Imagine 2,000 years from now "archaeologists" thinking "rinse, repeat as required" is some kind of ritual incantation on a shampoo bottle.

I would think that the carver would have done a neater job.

I imagine that a magician etching your comb with magic words (i.e. all written words 4K years ago) was like going for the extended warranty.

> I then guess this was an instrument for the wealthy

You guessed correctly, per the article: "It would have been like a diamond today, a crème de la crème luxury item. Others likely had lice combs too, but made of wood that would have decayed"

Reads like it might be instructions to me.