Origins Of The Afro Comb.

I first came across Sally Ann Ashton a few years ago when she as the curator of the Fitz William museum,
www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk...
unabashedly put Kmt aka Egypt in it's African context, some historians have long done so, but historians are into the softer side of the science , but as she is into artifacts and the interpretation thereof, her opinion carries more weight imo, although historians are much valued as they are not as dry as scientist, the info is easier to take in and disperse. others I like to compare her to is Maria Carmela Gatto University of Leicester leicester.academia.edu... Steven Quirkie of UCL Institute of Archaeology www.ucl.ac.uk... .
And of course David O' Conner in the now classic Egypt in it's African context isaw.nyu.edu...
These are just some of my go to references, what they have in common is, not just to look at Egypt as an isolate but as part of a wider continuum, in this the Afro-comb is but one aspect of that and can even hint at subtle shift in population as you will note in the vid, , but really it could be anything, from the headrest, a thing unique to Africa on a continental wide basis ,but rare out side it, the crook and frail to the Ws scepter, still in use among some Africans today .
Enjoy vid and info folks..

a reply to: Spider879

Here in the US we call that a pick.

originally posted by: KEACHI
a reply to: Spider879

Here in the US we call that a pick.

Yes I used such myself when I was a kid, and waay before I had locs,

a reply to: Spider879

I always thought the first combs were fish bones.

originally posted by: Trueman
a reply to: Spider879

I always thought the first combs were fish bones.

Ouch! Those would rip out strands when pickin..just like the cheap plastic ones do, unless you a wool-head. Metal prongs are best in all cases, and better for scalp scratchin too.

originally posted by: Trueman
a reply to: Spider879

I always thought the first combs were fish bones.

The finger may have been the first comb, as one would try and get at bugs and dirt , but as Caerwemust said, fish bones, unless these are some very large fish, it's hard to imagine.

Nice set of videos!

And no, first combs couldn't have been fish bones. Too fragile and too small. Fingers makes more sense.

Comb used to remove lice.

Harte

a reply to: Spider879

Cool videos, proof that various areas had influence with one another... even with hairstyles and personal grooming utensils.

No doubt the first combs/picks were probably carved from wood, the easiest material to get your hands on and carve with.




My girlfriend Vida in high school always walked around with her pick sticking out of her fro. That gal used to fuss with her fro constantly to make sure it was always in a perfect ball shape throughout the day. I would hold a small mirror behind her head while she would look in her locker door mirror to make sure that every hair was perfectly even at the back too.

Ah, the good ol' days.

a reply to: CranialSponge

Yeah, the hair thing is very important in African descendant communities, I am guessing the fuss about hair might be an extension of what was found in Africa, those headrest for example, looked none too comfy but it was meant to protect the hair.

It would be great if we could find out when was the first clean shaven heads we know the Sumerians and the Kemitians did it early on, what blades did they use before the age of metal, I could imagine obsidian but I really don't know how sharp a tool that is compared to a doubled razor, scraping your scull with a stone ouch!

a reply to: Spider879

Huh, I never thought of it like that. Good point !

Her and her family were from Ghana so I guess you may be right, it had more to do with cultural traditions than it did about typical teenage girl stuff.

I guess hair in some cultures can be thought of like a form of headdress or crown ? Large, bold, stylish, or even completely shaved... to display one's status in the community/tribe. Different styles to display different statuses ?

Wow, interesting stuff !



Thanks for the new food for thought !

a reply to: Spider879

The earliest razors were sharpened shells

2nd

originally posted by: punkinworks10
a reply to: Spider879

The earliest razors were sharpened shells

2nd

Wow! thanks, learnt something new just now, that's it, you are now my official go to person for lithics on ATS..

a reply to: Spider879

sharpend shells with use wear have been found at many stone age sites around the world, the go to theory is they were all used for scraping hides and such, but as we now know these early people did have a sense of personal image and decorated themselves, I see some of those old shells as razors.
Among certain native californian tribes, the yokuts and other central valley people, the men had pretty good beards, but unknown to the early white they shaved with shell razors, re enforcing the notion that native americans dont grow beards.

a reply to: Spider879

Today while purusing google scholar i came across this paper about the origins of culture,


www.dropbox.com...

Its fullmof cool stuff and has examples of various lithics and the like

originally posted by: Spider879
I could imagine obsidian but I really don't know how sharp a tool that is compared to a doubled razor, scraping your scull with a stone ouch!

Obsidian is actually very sharp. So sharp it has been used in modern day surgical scalpel blades.

Well-crafted obsidian blades, as with any glass knife, can have a cutting edge many times sharper than high-quality steel surgical scalpels, the cutting edge of the blade being only about 3 nanometers thick.[37] Even the sharpest metal knife has a jagged, irregular blade when viewed under a strong enough microscope; when examined even under an electron microscope an obsidian blade is still smooth and even.

Source

a reply to: Spider879

Fascinating videos! Like you, spider, I haven't had much use for a comb in decades, all loced up here too

I'm also happy she mention the use of the more narrow combs used by Africans for braiding. When she showed the narrow comb examples that is the 1st place my mind went to .. the infamous "rat tail" comb that we still use today to part and section hair for braiding. She made a correlation between the smaller combs and the emergence of straight hair in the region, which I believe is absolutely be true, but as you can see, the smaller combs were always used. Egyptian wigs were braided in what we call today " micro-braids" which can only be achieved using a smaller toothed comb.

What a fascinating item to study. Thx for posting!