DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49517#0310
242
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
9. K 1084: x. Wood; 1., 6.7 cm.; with kohl-pot; Photo. B 2274. Pl. 39, 2, No. 5.
10. KXB-280. Haematite; 1., 9 cm.; with kohl pot; Photo. B 2275, No. 1.
11. K 1618: 1. Wood; 1., 6.5 cm.; with faience kohl-pot; Photo. B 2276. Pl. 39, 2, with No. 1.
12. K 1618: x. Wood; 1., 7.7 cm.; with kohl-pot; Photo. B 2275, No. 2.
10. COMBS
Combs have been frequently found in all the recorded predynastic cemeteries of Egypt
and Lower Nubia.1 These archaic combs have a characteristic high body with an amulet,
such as a bird or an animal, on the upper end and four or more teeth, usually large and
coarse, set on the lower end. This type continued to be used in Lower Nubia during the
Early Dynastic Period,2 and one example appears to have been recorded from an Egyptian
tomb of the First Dynasty,3 but the drawing in the publication leaves a doubt. A few
short-tooth combs, those which Professor Petrie calls “scratch-combs,” have been found
dated to the Early Dynastic Period.4 M. Benedite’s catalogue describes two combs (44,321
and 14,486) one of which is a short-tooth comb of archaic form and the other a double
comb, also of archaic form, with short teeth on one end and long teeth opposite; but the
exact provenience of these examples is unknown. They are probably either predynastic or
protodynastic. After these archaic combs, no further examples have been reported until
the New Kingdom, nor have I found any, either in Egypt or Lower Nubia. The New
Kingdom comb has a wide rectangular form with the teeth set on a long side, which is dis-
tinctly different from the archaic form. A double comb of this type also occurs in the Cop-
tic Period, but I am uncertain of its range backward from that period.
Thus the present Egyptian material on combs exhibits a great gap covering the Old
and the Middle Kingdoms. The Kerma examples fall in the latter half of this gap.
The combs found at Kerma are of two closely related types; both have the high narrow
form of the archaic type with the six or eight teeth on the lower end, but the top is rounded
instead of straight, as in most of the archaic examples, and bears a small button instead of
the archaic animal-amulet. The distinction between the two types lies merely in the form
of the body, which in Type I shows concave and in Type II straight sides. Both types,
without any resemblance to the New Kingdom type, are, as I have said, clearly related to
the archaic type and might well be directly descended from that type.
The objects called combs are without doubt really combs and not mere hair ornaments.
In the one case at Kerma where the comb was in its original place, 1 below, it lay with a
heap of small toilet utensils (kohl-box with pencil, razor, scissors, and hair-tweezers) at the
foot of the bed and had manifestly been with these in a receptacle of some sort. It is pos-
sible that combs may have been stuck in the hair when not in use, as a sort of ornament;
but they were useful and practicable utensils. The question arises as to the meaning of the
fact that combs have not been found in Egypt in the tombs of the Old and the Middle
Kingdoms. It is well-nigh inconceivable that the Egyptians of the Old and the Middle
Kingdoms dispensed entirely with the use of the comb. The classes of minute animal life
which made combs useful in the earlier and the later periods were of course not extinct in
1 Benedite, Cat. Gen., Peignes, pp. 1-15: Nub. Arch. Sur., Report 1907-08, Pl. 66.
2 See Nub. Arch. Sur., l.c.
3 Petrie, Royal Tombs II, Pl. XXXII, no. 11, from B 10.
4 Petrie, l.c., no. 10 from B 5, obsidian: Petrie, Abydos I, Pl. XXVI, nos. 315-327, from temenos, flint; Reisner,
Naga-’d-Der I, Pl. 41c, possibly as an amulet.
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
9. K 1084: x. Wood; 1., 6.7 cm.; with kohl-pot; Photo. B 2274. Pl. 39, 2, No. 5.
10. KXB-280. Haematite; 1., 9 cm.; with kohl pot; Photo. B 2275, No. 1.
11. K 1618: 1. Wood; 1., 6.5 cm.; with faience kohl-pot; Photo. B 2276. Pl. 39, 2, with No. 1.
12. K 1618: x. Wood; 1., 7.7 cm.; with kohl-pot; Photo. B 2275, No. 2.
10. COMBS
Combs have been frequently found in all the recorded predynastic cemeteries of Egypt
and Lower Nubia.1 These archaic combs have a characteristic high body with an amulet,
such as a bird or an animal, on the upper end and four or more teeth, usually large and
coarse, set on the lower end. This type continued to be used in Lower Nubia during the
Early Dynastic Period,2 and one example appears to have been recorded from an Egyptian
tomb of the First Dynasty,3 but the drawing in the publication leaves a doubt. A few
short-tooth combs, those which Professor Petrie calls “scratch-combs,” have been found
dated to the Early Dynastic Period.4 M. Benedite’s catalogue describes two combs (44,321
and 14,486) one of which is a short-tooth comb of archaic form and the other a double
comb, also of archaic form, with short teeth on one end and long teeth opposite; but the
exact provenience of these examples is unknown. They are probably either predynastic or
protodynastic. After these archaic combs, no further examples have been reported until
the New Kingdom, nor have I found any, either in Egypt or Lower Nubia. The New
Kingdom comb has a wide rectangular form with the teeth set on a long side, which is dis-
tinctly different from the archaic form. A double comb of this type also occurs in the Cop-
tic Period, but I am uncertain of its range backward from that period.
Thus the present Egyptian material on combs exhibits a great gap covering the Old
and the Middle Kingdoms. The Kerma examples fall in the latter half of this gap.
The combs found at Kerma are of two closely related types; both have the high narrow
form of the archaic type with the six or eight teeth on the lower end, but the top is rounded
instead of straight, as in most of the archaic examples, and bears a small button instead of
the archaic animal-amulet. The distinction between the two types lies merely in the form
of the body, which in Type I shows concave and in Type II straight sides. Both types,
without any resemblance to the New Kingdom type, are, as I have said, clearly related to
the archaic type and might well be directly descended from that type.
The objects called combs are without doubt really combs and not mere hair ornaments.
In the one case at Kerma where the comb was in its original place, 1 below, it lay with a
heap of small toilet utensils (kohl-box with pencil, razor, scissors, and hair-tweezers) at the
foot of the bed and had manifestly been with these in a receptacle of some sort. It is pos-
sible that combs may have been stuck in the hair when not in use, as a sort of ornament;
but they were useful and practicable utensils. The question arises as to the meaning of the
fact that combs have not been found in Egypt in the tombs of the Old and the Middle
Kingdoms. It is well-nigh inconceivable that the Egyptians of the Old and the Middle
Kingdoms dispensed entirely with the use of the comb. The classes of minute animal life
which made combs useful in the earlier and the later periods were of course not extinct in
1 Benedite, Cat. Gen., Peignes, pp. 1-15: Nub. Arch. Sur., Report 1907-08, Pl. 66.
2 See Nub. Arch. Sur., l.c.
3 Petrie, Royal Tombs II, Pl. XXXII, no. 11, from B 10.
4 Petrie, l.c., no. 10 from B 5, obsidian: Petrie, Abydos I, Pl. XXVI, nos. 315-327, from temenos, flint; Reisner,
Naga-’d-Der I, Pl. 41c, possibly as an amulet.