An Anglo Saxon double sided comb made from bone
To complement our current exhibition, A Day in the Life of…. this month features one of the many amazing artefacts discovered during the archaeological dig on the land off Oxford Road in Thame, prior to the development of the Thame Meadows housing estate.
The comb was found in sections. It is double-sided and the teeth on either side are uniform in size and spacing. Nine iron rivets were used to attach the central bars to the teeth plates. The whole comb is decorated with ring-and-dot motifs, which was quite common.
Bone as well as antler were widely used in the Saxon period, often for items for which we now use plastics. Bone objects have survived, partly because they were so widely used, but also due to the fact that bone generally survives well in the ground in most conditions.
The Thame Meadows dig, a major archaeological excavation, was organised jointly by Oxford Archaeology and Cotswold Archaeology between February and September 2015. It revealed evidence of continuous settlement of the site for nearly 6,000 years. For more information about the dig visit :
https://oxfordcotswoldarchaeology.org.uk/
This comb and many other artefacts representing the last 6,000 years of Thame’s history are currently on display in the exhibition.
A Day In the Life of…. brings some of the people of the time to life, in an imagined reconstruction of their everyday lives.
The exhibition continues until the end of August. Entrance free
