A Christmas Story: New Study finds Reindeer Antler in Viking England
Research by a team, including former MA student Lewis Tomlinson and several members of department staff, has identified an unusual object found by a metal detectorist in East Anglia: a rare type of Viking comb, made of reindeer antler.
The comb was found in Suffolk in 2018 by a member of the public. He reported it to the Portable Antiquities Scheme, which records all such finds, though the majority of its artefacts are metallic.
The finder very kindly offered to donate the comb to the Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service, which allowed us the opportunity to examine and analyse it in detail.
The comb was inspected by Steve Ashby, and its raw materials analysed using a technique we specialise in, known as ZooMS. The analyses were undertaken as part of an MA project by one of our Masters students, Lewis Tomlinson (supported by Jessie Hendy and Sam Presslee). Dan Brock then recorded the object digitally, using RTI and 3D-modelling.
The piece has been published by Internet Archaeology (itself run from our department), and is open access. This is a great example of the diverse range of techniques available to archaeologists, and what can happen when you work together in teams.
If you'd like to find out more about these skills, and perhaps develop them yourself through one of our MA programmes, do get in touch:
- Material Culture and Experimental Archaeology
- Medieval Archaeology
- MSc Bioarchaeology
- Digital Archaeology
- Digital Heritage
You can read the article and explore the 3D and RTI models, or check out Suffolk County Council Archaeology Service's blog post.
Happy Christmas from our Viking Reindeer!