In earlier cultures, people used carved bones for all kinds of activities, not just those of animals. This is once again proven by a find near Cambridge in England: it is a comb made from a piece of a human skull. Experts at the Museum of London Archeology (MOLA) and the paleontological firm Headland Archeology The date of the fragmentary piece from the Bar Hill site to 400 BC. 70 AD, that is, the Iron Age, which ended with the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 AD. For now, experts can only speculate as to why the comb was made from human bone and whether it was for symbolic reasons.
Archaeologists recovered the body between 2016 and 2018 while conducting salvage operations for a national highway widening. The logo appeared as one of approximately 280,950 artifacts. Meanwhile, the team led by MOLA Project Director Michael Marshall closely examined the find from the Iron Age settlement of Bar Hill and found no signs of wear on the handle and teeth. If the comb is not for combing, then what? According to the researchers, perhaps as a pendant – a partially drilled hole has been preserved on the edge. In addition, ornate amulets made from human bones are passed down frequently from Iron Age Britain.
© MOLA (details)
Reconstruction | Only half of the Bar Hill bone crest is believed to have survived. The drawing shows what the object might look like in its whole state.
Perhaps the motto had a symbolic meaning. Marshall says it would have been carved from the skull of someone who was high in society at the time. According to a press release. Two other metacarpals of human bones are also known to have come to light in Cambridgeshire. On one of them, no teeth were crammed, they were just scratched almost into the bone. According to Marshall, the lines may have been intended to mimic the stitches on a human skull.
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