Record

Combs from Brough of Birsay, Orkney

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Postcard of Combs from Brough of Birsay, Orkney.
000-000-136-628-C
© National Museums Scotland

Combs from Brough of Birsay, Orkney

These antler combs were found at the Brough of Birsay in Orkney. They are Pictish types of combs, but some date from the times of the earliest Viking settlers, suggesting that Pictish craftsmen may have continued to make such combs locally.

The combs were made by cutting small plates of antler into teeth, and then riveting these between two connecting plates in the middle. All the combs preserve iron rivets, and most are decorated. All are fragmentary to some degree, though their basic shapes are clear.

One distinctive type of Pictish comb is short with a high back, sometimes with openwork decoration. Double-sided combs often have teeth which become shorter towards the ends, and they are often richly decorated. The source of the antler for these combs is unknown.


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Online ID: 000-000-136-628-C
Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
Project: 0035: Early Scottish Shelter - Life in the Prehistoric Home (multimedia essay)
Project description | View all records in project
Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.HB 218
Date: Between 700 and 900
Material: Horn
Horn; hair comb; double sided; connecting plates; flat section; with a line of dots in ring between grooved horizontal lines; five iron rivets; end tooth segments with dot in circle; teeth slightly graduated; almost complete
Horn; hair comb; double sided; pair of connecting plates, convex section; incised with chevron pattern; six iron rivets; teeth broken off
Single
Single sided, high backed; round backed; one end broken and smoothed for reuse; two decorative perforation; plain connecting plates; three iron rivets
Dimensions: 115mm L
153mm L
62mm L
87mm L
96mm L
What: Comb
Comb
Comb
Comb
Comb / incomplete
Subject:
Who:
Where: Scotland, Orkney, Brough of Birsay
Scotland, Orkney, Brough of Birsay
Scotland, Orkney, Brough of Birsay
Scotland, Orkney, Brough of Birsay
Scotland, Orkney, Brough of Birsay
Event:
Description: Comb
Comb
Comb
Comb
Incomplete comb from Brough of Birsay, Orkney
References:
  • Curle, C.L. Pictish and Norse finds from the Brough of Birsay, 1973-74. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Monograph Series 1, 1982, pp 23-4, 57-9, 108-9. 
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