Weaving-combs from the West Village 66
Ornamentation
Much that has been said with regard to the decoration of this type of
comb in The Glastonbuiry Lake Village volume need not be repeated here.
It might be mentioned, however, that seventy-three of the one-hundred-and-thirty
combs (or parts of combs) found are more or less ornamented. (Specimens
with
only a single transverse incised line at the base of the teeth have not
been counted). This indicates that fifty-seven of the combs were not decorated.
In the Glastonbury Lake Village one specimen, H 255, was ornamented with
a simple design in slightrelief. The same feature is met with in three
of the Meare
examples, HH 82, 110 and 125, all figured in Plate XXI. One specimen from
Maiden Castle is also ornamented by raised bands (Maiden Castle Report,
Fig. 102, No.11).
In fifteen examples from Meare zigzags ornament the combs, and dots-and-circles
occur in fifteen specimens -one or two of them being concentric circles.
Special attention must be drawn to HH 109 and HH 110, two highly ornate
combs which were foundtouching and crossing one another in Mound XXXV
(Plates XX, XXI). In the former the round enlargement at the butt-end
is perforated by two circular holes, and the shaft is ornamented with
a pricked representation of the step-pattern (Fig. 9). HH 110 is a gracefully
formed comb, and the ornament consists of a central vertical band, between
which and the margins is, on either side, a continuous row of part circles
and semi-circles.
In the detailed description of the combs which follows, their forms and
ornamentation are fully dealt with.
III.- REFERENCES TO SIMILAR COMBS FOUND IN GREAT BRITAIN14
In my chapter on the Combs found at Glastonbury a long record of references
to similar specimens found in Great Britain was given,
14 Additional to those listed in Glastonbury Lake Village, pp.274-283.