Scientists from the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) identified a ‘comb’ carved out from a human skull among 280,000 items of interest collected between 2016 and 2018.
“The comb was found at Bar Hill near Cambridge, a site which has already offered up its share of mysterious finds – including more than 8000 frog bones from a ditch at the Iron Age settlement,” read the UK-based company’s statement.
Archaeologists referred the artifact as an ‘Iron Age bone comb’ while describing it as “rectangular, with rounded edges and coarsely cut teeth”.
The study revealed that during Iron Age, people who lived in Britain used human bones from arms and legs to make different tools, including those for cleaning animal skins. The recently identified ‘Bar Hill comb’, named after the place from where it was excavated, could have been used for textile work or even combing hair. But after discovering a hole in the ‘comb’, scientists changed their minds as they said that chances are more that it could have been used as an amulet.
Stating that wearing comb-shaped amulets was a common tradition in Iron Age Britain, the statement added, “In fact, it (Bar Hill comb) is one of only three Iron Age combs made from human skull ever found. And the other two come from just down the road. The first was found at excavations at Earith, 9 miles north of Bar Hill, in the 1970s. The second, which has carved lines rather than teeth, was found during excavations at Harston Mill, 10 miles south of Bar Hill in the early 2000s. This suggests it may have been an Iron Age tradition unique to this part of Britain!”
