Fragments of a liturgical comb found in Suffolk, UK

[AleksCA]

Hello, I thought I'll share this exciting news from my company:

Two pieces of an intricately carved, double-sided ivory comb of 11th to 12th-century date were collected from one of the trenches at the community dig at Clare Castle in Suffolk.

The comb is made from African elephant ivory and would have had decorative panels to either side. One side panel depicts the hind legs of a beast that could be a griffin, set amidst foliage. The other side is decorated with a spectacular lion; one of a possible pair with the second now missing. The teeth and sides of the comb are absent. It appears that, at some point in its past, the object may have suffered lamination causing the teeth to fail and rather than discarding such a fine object, the teeth were neatly sawn away leaving the decorative panels to be reused.

It is highly likely that the comb from Clare is the first example of an ivory Byzantine comb to have been excavated this century!

You can read more and see photos at: https://cotswoldarchaeology.co.uk/fragm ... cavations/
(I hope it's allowed to share links?)

[Minimalist]

Yes, links are allowed especially when they support the posting.
Welcome.

[Simon21]

Fascinating. Elephant ivory, must have been worth a fortune.