Mária T. Biró: The Bone Objects of the Roman Collection. (Catalogi Musei Nationalis Hungarici. Seria Archeologica 2; Budapest, 1994)

IV. HAIR-STYLES THE USE OF BONE HAIR-PINS, AND COMB USE OF THE ROMANS - 4. Combs

or ribbon was possibly passed through. (No. 376.) The other pin with cock representation is, unlike the life-like character of the former pin, entirely abstract. (No. 377.) It does not represent, only indicates the bird. While the most characteristic features of the cock, its crested head and quill feathers were minutely modelled, the trunk and legs of the animal are denoted only by a triangular bone lamella separated from the leg of the pin with a field of dot-circle motifs. On the cock representation of Dunapentele, being rather worn, the lattice pattern as a secondary scratching can be seen (No. 379.) Just as it could be observed on a specimen from one of the Late Roman graves of Tác, the small figure originally carved life-like, with feathers was, after being worn off, re-modelled with lattice-like acratches. In the case of this pin from Dunapentele it is interesting that the cock figure is standing on a bone ring; this ring may have had its function once like the ring to be seen on the quill feathers of the specimen from Szőny. The forerunners of bone animal representations are also recognizable on the bronze and emaille fibulas. Human representations. There were two types with human representations. (Nos. 380386.) One type represents busts or heads. These were all made, without exception, of women; their minutely modelled hair style allows the possibility that they represent empresses. The hair style thus preserved on pins exactly recalls the hair style of a respective empress, therefore the pins can be dated almost to the decade. The miniaturized one-one and a half cm carvings are perfect artistic masterworks. It is well illustrated by the fact that the photos made of these carvings can be aesthetically enjoyed at a 10-15 scale enlargement. One of the most beautiful Pannonian carvings is the female bust of lyric atmosphere modelled in the hair style of Faustina.

76 (No. 380.) Unfortunately, its site is unknown. The female head from Szőny was made, on the basis of its hair style, in the Severian age.

77 (Nos. 381382.) The pin head from Dunapentele can be dated, after the iconography of Helene Augusta and Constantia, to the 4th century. (No. 383.) The master who has carved the latter pin is less skilful; its technical novelty is that the eye of the small head is denoted by bone inlay.

78 A rather worn pin has come to the Collection from Szőny (No. 384.); here, reconstructing the profile from the strongly enlarged photos, the wavy hair style hiding the nape worn by Late-Severian empresses could be identified (Barbia Orbiana Augusta).

79 The other group of pins with human figure is not a bust but a full-length statuette. (Figs. 385-386.) These bone carvings represented to my knowledge without exception female figures or goddesses; there is no male representation among them. The most frequently occurring goddess was Aphrodite, but others were also represented like Abundantia. Mostly the prototype of Praxiteles' Aphrodite is copied. In the Collection of the Hungarian National Museum there is but one surviving Aphrodite representation on pin head. The head of the goddess is broken, her right arm is placed before her breast while her left is holding the downfalling fold of her dress (Aphrodite of Rhodos). The folds of the cloak are indicated by the master with horizontal strokes. The other carvings representing goddesses are not on hair pins but on distaffs. There is another pin fragment from Szőny, where the pedestal has also remained from a full-lenght carving. (No. 386.) 4. Combs (Fig. 10.) (I. Double-sided combs. II. Triangleshaped combs. III. Semi-circular combs. IV. Humpbacked combs. V. Marosszentanna-type combs.) The major types of combs have not changed in the course of thousand years. Combs with teeth on one or both sides date back to prehistoric times; it is only the way of their decoration that has changed. The majority of Combs has always been made of bone; wood and metal were more seldom used. Comb is primarily a hardly dispensable object of everyday use, at the same time its smooth, fiat surface so to say offers itself for decoration. Throughout history characteristic products of folk art have arisen combs. Among the finds of Roman provincial archaeology there is hardly any undecorated bone comb. Moreover, combs appear which were not employed for raking, but for the decoration of hair (so-called knot combs). As all combs were decorated