The bone comb (actually, probably horn) shown above came from the area of the leat. If you look carefully, you can see that it is decorated with a diamond design at one end.
The combs were made by cutting the teeth into a thin piece of bone or horn which had been reinforced by riveting a thicker piece of bone along the edge on both the flat sides (down the centre in the case of combs with teeth on both sides). What looks like dirt on the comb is, in fact, accretions of iron from the rivets.
The comb below came from an area above what we suspect is a second well which we will explore next year.
The combs all date from the 8th and 9th centuries. They were used for personal grooming.
