Casgliadau Arlein

A rare Early Medieval comb made from antler.

This comb was recovered from the middle ditch re-cut G29 in Phase 10 of the Early Medieval cemetary in site SMR 19. Only twelve fragments of the central portion survive, but these are enough to tell us a full picture of the object.

Description, It was constructed from three plates: an inner tooth plate and two connecting plates either side forming a sturdier handle, and these plates were all held together by antler pegs. All three of these plates and some pins survive on this object. Remnants of delicate comb teeth also survive. The inclusion of antler pegs is rare as other surviving examples normally use metal rivets.

The comb is undecorated except for some faceted bevels at the top and bottom of the connecting plates. On the bottom, the bevels are little grooves that line up with the comb's teeth. On the top, the bevels seem to slightly decorate the convex edge. The edges of the connecting plates are fairly straight and undecorated. The pegs have a faceted subcircular section. They slot in and hold the comb todether through drilled holes. As only the central portion survives, it is impossible to tell exactly how long the comb would have been.

Parallels, A comb recovered from Llangorse Crannog, Powys (Lane and Redknap, 2019, no.426a-d, 263; fig. 13.1.3) most of which was found unstratified before laying out the trench but connecting fragments were later excavated within the trench. The Llangorse comb can be dated from the late 9th to early 10th century. The single sides form of comb had a wide currency from the 9th century continuing to the 10th century (Lane and Redknap 2019, 269).

The form of this comb can also be suggested as correspoding with Ashby's (2005) type 5 (9th-mid-10th century) or 6 (10th -11th century), depending on the uncertain original length.

The Rare Comb Peg Construction, The use of antler/bone pegs is very rare, although one other early medieval example was found in Wales in Llangorse (Lane and Redknap 2019). Other combs from across Europe tend to use iron or copper alloy rivels to hold combs together. Rivets would be made slightly smaller than their holes and then, once in place, they would be hammered to flatten and widen them to fill the gaps and clamp the plates together. This wouldn't have been possible with antler pegs.

These pegs have been worked into a tapered shape. The facets on the peg surfaces suggest they were whittled using a knife drawn down the blank. The tapering of the pegs is significant, because there doesn't seem to have been any adhesive holding the comb together, instead the tapered pegs are inserted alternately to hold the plates together.

This item's rare antler pegs are therefore invaluable for demonstrating the unique and ingenious construction of a rare type of Welsh antler peg composite combs.

Suriving Fragments, The comb is now broken into three fragments along its length, each of which comprises of all the three plates, while the other end is broken and incomplete. The broken end has the three plates still fastened and secured together, with remnants of the teeth on the lower edge only and represented by eight cuts in the connecting plates and one incomplete tooth extending from the central tooth plate. The comb has broken across the end of the peg hole, with hte peg still secured in place. One of the connecting plates is loose, while the other remains attached through the central plate. The comb has again broken through the peg hole and the rivet is now loose. The final section narrows slightly towards the end and was secured by a peg positioned immediately adjacent to the end. The bone or antler peg is secured within one connecting plate, the other connecting plate and tooth plate are loose and the connecting plate is incomplete and fragmentary. There is no surviving evidence for teeth cuts on the end section and it is unclear whether the tooth plate extended beyond the connecting plates.