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Southern Accent The student voice since 1926
Southern archeologists uncover ancient lice comb featuring oldest alphabetic sentence ever discovered
Vol. 78 Issue 10
Campus Safety to add lights and cameras around campus
Matthew Orquia News Editor
“May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard.” News of the discovery took off on Nov. 10. Soon after, publications around the world, including The New York Times, ran stories about it. “To find an artifact from 3,700 years ago is incredible, but to find one that has a complete sentence is a breakthrough discovery,” wrote Southern President Ken Shaw in a statement to the Accent. “I am very proud of Dr. Hasel and his leadership in working with professor Yosef Garfinkel from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and engaging our students in uncovering the many mysteries of ancient Biblical times.” Hasel realized the significance of the inscription when he received the epigrapher’s analysis confirming that the writing’s script dated back to the second millennium. After the story came out, however, he was
New lighting and cameras are being added to campus, according to Marty Hamilton, associate vice president for Financial Administration. The project, a collaboration between Campus Safety, Financial Administration and Information Technology, involves a four-phase proposal to add more CCTV cameras to campus. Phase one has been approved by administration. Phase one of the proposal would add 25 exterior cameras covering the Hulsey Wellness Center, Taylor Circle West parking lots, the track, the tennis and pickleball courts and the sidewalk to the new SuCasa Church. These areas were included in the first phase because Campus Safety found that they had the highest number of incident reports, according to the proposal. The CCTV proposal is a fouryear plan to add cameras across campus. After phase one, the next three phases would add cameras to many of the parking lots across campus and some of the entry and exit points of campus. Each phase is estimated to cost around $40,000. While cameras on campus are helpful to Campus Safety, they typically do not stop incidents from happening, Hamilton said. Cameras on campus record to a server that can be accessed by Campus Safety. Campus Safety can also pull up the live feed of a camera on campus when necessary, according to Haas. “Cameras have been used in the past to help resolve incidents. The
See LICE COMB on page 2
See CAMPUS SAFETY on page 2
(Photos from left to right) The ivory comb and Michael Hasel and Katherine Hesler in area where comb was found (Photo credits: (Photo 1: Dafna Gazit, Israel Antiquities Authority) (Photo 2: Zachary Kast, Fourth Expedition to Lachish))
Amanda Blake Managing Editor On the first day of the Fourth Expedition to Lachish’s 2016 excavation season, Katherine Hesler, a Southern Adventist University student at the time, held a curious item. The object, which had just been discovered, was fully encrusted in dirt and resembled a bone. Yet Hesler could tell there was something special about it. “We were still getting started with the project, still cleaning up, getting ready. … [The comb] was in the western corner of the square, and we hadn’t even dug that much,” Hesler, who was the square supervisor, recounted in an interview with the Accent. “ … I remember holding it in my hand. It was not a perfect square … sort of a squaredoff piece, which is unusual. I definitely did not know what it was, but it was a curious thing. It was obviously something unique.”
Hesler placed the strange object in a bone bag to be studied by the team’s zooarchaeologist, Ed Maher. Later that day, he contacted the digging team to tell them that the object was actually an ivory lice comb. “There weren’t a lot of bones to analyze, so he immediately went to work,” Michael Hasel, Southern archeology professor, said in an interview. “ … By that evening, he contacted us and said, ‘Look, this thing that you have in this bone bag is not a bone; it’s actually ivory,' which is technically a type of bone. He says, ‘It’s elephant ivory. I’ve cleaned it, and it looks like it was an ancient comb. I can see the remains on both ends of the actual teeth that were broken off in antiquity.’” Hasel is co-director of the Fourth Expedition to Lachish, a five-season excavation of Tel-Lachish, which was the second most important city in Judah after Jerusalem. Southern is a partner in the expedition, which
occurred from 2013 to 2017. When the comb was discovered, the team was excited, said Hasel, but the artifact, like hundreds of other artifacts found that season in Tel-Lachish, including sling stones, arrow heads, pieces of mail armor and loom weights, was sent to a lab in Jerusalem to wait for post-processing. A Breakthrough Discovery Unbeknownst to Hasel and Hesler at the time, an inscription was engraved on the comb. Earlier this year, Madeleine Mumcuoglu, a parasitologist and archaeologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, found the inscription. Soon after, Daniel Vainstub, a semitic epigrapher from Ben Gurion University, deciphered the inscription and realized it is the oldest, fully decipherable alphabetic sentence ever discovered. According to Hasel, it consists of 17 letters written in the Canaanite alphabet, dating to about 1700 B.C., and translates to,
‘We are very broken’: Southern professor reflects on the life and untimely death of his late son Hudson Baker Alana Crosby Edior-in-Chief
Editors Note: The Accent is publishing this story with the consent of the family, which hopes sharing their experience will help others whose loved ones are struggling with emotional instability and/or mental illness. Fourteen-year-old Hudson Baker loved making people smile, according to his father, Andy Baker, an assistant professor of applied technology. The teenager accomplished that goal by wearing bright-colored outfits and unique accessories. “I think he loved to stand out whether it was with a weird hat, or having his hair long or wearing [a] bright, different pair of socks for every day of the week,” the father said in an interview with the Accent while reflecting on his young son’s life. “I think he enjoyed making other people happy and feel good by his goofy little moves.” Andy Baker made the comments in his office at Southern Adventist University about four weeks after the loss of his son to suicide. As the Thanksgiving holiday approached, the family struggled to heal and cope with the roller coaster emotions associated with the untimely death. However, they remained grateful for the love and support they received from the Collegedale community in the wake of the tragedy. “My wife and I have been blown away by the love [and prayers we received],” Baker said. “It's been a month ago now. The amount of support from the college, from the boys’ school, from our churches, it has been a lot. It has been over-
whelming. We are definitely riding the wave of a prayer.” Hudson was the middle-child in a family with three boys, an eighthgrader at Collegedale Academy and a dedicated student. His father said he enjoyed learning and worked hard to achieve good grades. The teenager also had a compassionate spirit, according to those who knew him. After his death, his family received a flood of letters from parents recounting how he impacted their children’s lives. The letters depicted Hudson seeking out and befriending bullied, lonely and friendless schoolmates, revealing his kind spirit. “We have been told how Hudson would be the one that would be nice [to other children], or that he would give them a part of his lunch,” Baker said. “And that's a very interesting thing, because Hudson never told us any of this.” On Oct. 21, the family held a memorial service to celebrate Hudson’s brief life. The event drew hundreds of people, including many of the teenager’s schoolmates, teachers and friends. While memorializing his son, a visibly emotional Baker stood in front of the audience and recalled his son’s active imagination, which engendered various theories and mind-bending conundrums. “Hudson had all these crazy ideas; [they] would wear me out,” Baker said. “He was the ‘what-if’ guy: ‘What if cars could go under water?’ ... But so many of these crazy ideas would come to life.” One day, Baker was half-listening to Hudson brainstorming about one of his ambitious projects, but
Baker’s mind was somewhere else. The next day Baker returned home to discover that the concept Hudson envisioned had become a reality. Using a mountain bike, some rope and a ladder, Hudson had created a simulation device to practice popping wheelies. Baker said it was exactly how Hudson had explained it, and he [Baker] had blown it off as just another “wacky” idea. Baker also recalled his son having a special bond with his mother, Wencke Baker. During the memorial service, he referred to their relationship, saying, “She just got him.” Though Baker had a little more difficulty understanding his son, he said he and Hudson worked together on many projects. “We just moved into a brand new house and all my boys worked on it,” he said. “I mean, we built it all. Other than just roofing, masonry and drywall, we did everything. And so we framed it, put the windows in, put the hardwood in, trimmed it … We did a lot of neat projects and things.” In addition to ventures at home, Baker said he made it a point to take one of his sons on a trip every other year. He and Hudson went to Alaska when Hudson was in second grade, which did wonders for their relationship. “I was really happy that we could have that one-on-one time,” he said. “On that trip something happened, like we got very bonded. We came back, and it was just different. We were really buddies.” Hudson loved books, so much so that his parents would have to See HUDSON BAKER on page 3
Suicide Prevention Tips If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, help is available. For the Suicide Crisis Lifeline, text or call 988 to speak with a trained crisis counselor. If you know of someone who is having suicidal thoughts, Healthline provides the following tips: 1) Don’t be afraid to ask them directly, and encourage them to talk about it. 2) Offer support and encourage them to seek professional help. 3) Stay with them. 4) Involve others. 5) Let them know they are not alone and they have been heard.
Hudson Baker (Photo courtesy of source)