Archaeologists unearthed a comb from almost 3,000 years ago, but when they analyzed it, they got a surprise

At first glance it looked like a crude comb made of bone, but it turned out to be much more than that.

Human beings have always known how to adapt to their environment and use it for your own benefit. Throughout our evolutionary history we have used wood, stone and metal to make utensils and tools, but sometimes the raw material could be something more… gloomy. That was the surprise they found a group of scientists and archaeologists from the Museum of Archaeological History in London during an investigation to determine the origin of what seemed a combrecently unearthed near Cambridge, in Bar Hill.

This piece was made of bone and dated from about the year 750 B.C. C.. The materials did not attract the attention of the researchers, since the manufacture of tools with bones and animal skins. However, when taking the fragment to the laboratory they realized that it was not just any bone. It was a fragment of the parietal bone from a human skull.

It was not a simple comb, it was something with much more spiritual value.

The part had now much more historical value. Iron Age artifacts using human bones had been found before, and it was usually all part of a process of adoration or respect. At first glance, the fragment found at Bar Hill looked like a comb, but if it was made of human skull bone, that didn’t make much sense. Michael Marshall, an archaeologist at the Museum of Archaeological History, London, explained on the BBC the relevance of this discovery:

“What we found at Bar Hill may have been a very symbolic object and powerful for members of the local community. It may have been carved from the skull of an important member of Iron Age society whose presence was somehow preserved and commemorated through the bones of him.”

It is believed that the amulet would have this shape when it was carved from the bone Image: MOLA

Using this piece as a tool it was ruled out at the time they analyzed the “teeth”, since they were very little worn. The main hypothesis is that it was actually a piece of jewelry, an amulet.

In that area of ​​Cambridgeshire they have been found before tools made from human bones, but never from the skull. Have been found femur parts They were used as handles for garden or agricultural implements, but the skull bones were only transformed into decorative and symbolic elements. in honor of the deceased person. It is believed that the person to whom that skull belonged was important to the community even after his own death.