Peigne à double denture et traverse simple

Comb composed of toothed plates held together by iron rivets (three of which have survived) between two crosspieces of plano-convex cross-section, 18 mm wide and decorated with four crossed grooves, small ocelli and transverse grooves. The preserved end is a plate with two circular perforations near the corners and an edge cut with pointed and rounded motifs; four concentric semicircles have been traced across its width. The rods show traces of tooth cutting, which was carried out after assembly. The composition of the decoration - tight, intersecting grooves mixed with ocelli - refers to combs from an area stretching from present-day Switzerland to Pannonia in the late Roman period. On the other hand, the plano-convex cross-section and width of its central rods, as well as its cut and perforated ends, bring it closer to the Late Antique and Early Medieval series discovered in northeastern Gaul. At the end of Antiquity and throughout the Merovingian period, this hair accessory became an object symbolizing social rank and the integration of a fashion from central Europe; it became part of the costume by being worn suspended from the belt thanks to its perforated ends. This phenomenon is expressed by its deposition in tombs, as in Poitiers.