‘Riveted Mounts’ Reconsidered: Horn Composite Combs in Early Medieval Britain, Ireland and France

Abstract

Riveted bone strips have been described variously as ‘riveted mounts’ or the components of combs. They are examined here and interpreted as connecting plates from horn composite combs. This comb type came into use during the ninth century and quickly became the most common form of the Late Saxon period, continuing in use until the twelfth century. It is essentially an Anglo-Saxon comb form but examples have been found also in Dublin and across numerous sites in northern France. Connecting plates, made of antler or bone, occur in three basic shapes. Horn composite comb waste assemblages from Norwich, Thetford and Winchester suggest that by the late eleventh century commodity-based manufacture had superseded earlier forms of material-centred production.