- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Antler comb
- Long description
- Antler weaving tool/comb. Only 1 tooth intact. Distal end broken. Carved lines in geometric patterns decorating the surface. [CG [Excav. PR] 03/07/2013]
- Geographical reference
- England Dorset Weymouth And Portland Weymouth
- Person
- Maker Unknown Maker
- Field collector James A.S. Medhurst
- PRM source Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers founding collection
- Date
- Date collected
- By 1879 July 2
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1884
- Materials and processes
- Material Animal Antler, Material Animal Bone, Process Carved
- Dimensions
- Length: max 50 mm, Width: max 32 mm, Thick: max 10 mm, Weight 7 g
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1884.46.17 PR no.: 8/ 9680
- Research and responses
This object was probably among those purchased by Pitt-Rivers at a Sotheby auction on 2 July 1879, but is not listed individually in the catalogue. [Dan Hicks 22/07/2013]
This object appears NOT to be among the 5 combs mentioned by Pitt-Rivers in his 1881 paper on Mount Caburn: "...In my collection are several bone combs of the same kind...One also in my collection, from Portland, near Weymouth, found by Mr. Medhurst, has seven teeth; another, from Jordan Hill, near Weymouth, has eight teeth ; these latter were associated with Roman remains." Pitt-Rivers 1881: 431. (Reference: Pitt-Rivers, A.H.L.F. 1881. Excavations at Mount Caburn camp near Lewes, conducted in 1877 and 1878. Archaeologia 46: 423-495; page 431) [Dan Hicks 08/07/2013]
Note that there are quite a lot of objects from Weymouth obtained on 2.7.79, the same date that is used for the Medhurst collection (a collection from Jordan Hill). It is possible therefore that the items from Weymouth form part of the same collection or were obtained from the same source. [AP Leverhulme project on founding collection 1995-1998]
- Associated publications
- Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge 1879. Catalogue of Antiquities and Works of Art including the collection of the Baron Heath...and the Musuem of Romano-British pottery and Roman personal ornaments formed by the late Mr James Medhurst of Worthing and Weymouth; comprising vessels in terra-cotta, bronze figures &c., cinerary urns, early Roman implements, beads, Roman coins...(1-2 July 1879). London: Dryden Press (Messrs Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge). I have placed a copy of this catalogue on file in the RDF for 1884.2.1 [Dan Hicks 08/07/2013]
Search terms: Textile, Tool, Weaving Accessory, Comb