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

not be measured the length of the bone bands remaining intact is always the same. The antique name of the combs have also survived. Athours differentiate a type of dense comb, a comb with thinner teeth used for hair cutting and decorative combs. (Tibull. I. 9.68; Claudianus Nupt. Plaut. Capt. I. 2.18.) Double-sided combs were called " dense densus"

. We do not know exactly what "rarus pecten" — the comb used for hair cutting — was. Fig. 11. Representation of a double-sided composite comb on a tombstone Among bone carvings they are the combs where the workshop can be determined with the greatest certainty. It has a cause of quantity: on the one hand they were produced in a great number, on the other hand their large surface could be diversely, quality and uniquely decorated. In Szőny the decorative band of the combs was divided with vertical clusters of lines to fields. (Nos. 387-392.) These fields are filled by double lines crossing each other in different geometric forms. The workshop of Szőny is so characteristic and unique that the double-sided comb of the Fleissing Collection registered as of unknown site was most probably made in the Szőny workshop. (No. 402.) Bone carvings produced with handicraft bear the individual marks of the bone carver on themselves to such a degree that they can be easily attributed to a respective master. Although the combs from Kisgyarmat or Pilismarót (No. 400.) to be found in the Collection are decorated with the same vertical stripes and double oblique lines like those from Szőny, still, they can not be compared to the masterly skill of the Szőny masters or with the fineness of their carvings. The products of the city workshops observed by me so far all follow a well definable unique workshop style. However, there are some combs in the Collection that, to my knowledge can not be attributed to any workshop. As for instance the double-sided comb where the cross band was divided horizontally (!) by two plastic arched ribs. (No. 405.) In the decoration of the cross bands lines were generally running vertically. The two shorter sides of the teethed comb were divided by three semi-circles respectively. This type of comb ending has no parallel, to my knowledge, from Pannónia. (No. 428.) In its details it can be related to the humpbacked combs from Dunaújváros and should be dated to the 4th century. The cross band of the comb from Szőny is similarly unusual; it is decorated with a wide plait ornament consisting of interwining semi-circles (No. 407.). It is possibly a Late Roman motif. A similar wavy pattern consisting of semi-circles can be found on the double-sided comb from Nagytétény, only here this motif decorating the border is composed of tiny elements. (No. 409.) This wavy line composed of opposed semi-circles is one of the recurring characteristics of the Late-Roman Marosszentanna type combs. (Nos. 439-441.) This coincidence also proves that the combs explained earlier by the settling of Germans developed in fact originally from the patterns of provincial bone processing workshops, and these combs have not come to Pannónia from the Germans but the province exported them to the Barbaricum. Fig. 12. Double-sided composite comb with case There were also comb cases made for double-sided combs. (Fig. 12.) The sheath consisted of four bone plates fitted together with rivets and their surface was generally decorated with the same motifs as seen on the