ABSTRACT
The popularity of skeletal materials in the manufacture of sword hilts was maintained to some extent into the medieval period, particularly in the Scandinavian world. In the Migration Period in particular, combs seem to have had a potent symbolic significance. They were frequently included, often burned or deliberately broken, in cremation burials. From a technological standpoint a distinction may be drawn between one-piece combs, made from a single block of material, and composite combs, in which several structural elements are united by rivets. From the early centuries of our era two distinct traditions of comb-making can be detected, one of them native to northern Europe and the other introduced from the Mediterranean area through northward Roman expansion. The capacity of horn to be moulded into large, flat sheets allowed single-piece combs of dimensions large enough to suit almost any purpose to be produced without difficulty.
