Fragment of a bone comb

This fragmentary bone comb was found at the site of the royal hillfort at Dunadd in Argyll. It is of a type made in Ireland, and it may have come to Dunadd as a gift or as a possession of an Irish visitor.

Less than a quarter of the double-sided comb survives. The design of the endplate is distinctively Irish.

Combs were used in the first millennium AD, not just for grooming but also for removing head lice. Dunadd was the capital of the Scottish Dál Riata, and many contacts with Ireland were maintained over the centuries.

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