Internet Archaeology (Nov 2016)
The Egyptian Hair Pin: practical, sacred, fatal
Abstract
Generally regarded as little more than a mundane tool employed in daily life, the humble hairpin occasionally played a rather more prominent role in history than has perhaps been appreciated. As the most ancient implements associated with hair styling, simple pins of bone and ivory were commonly employed in Egypt by c.4000 BC as a means of securing long hair in an upswept style (e.g. Petrie and Mace 1901, 21, 34). Although their occasional use by men undermines the assumption that hairpins are 'a relatively certain example of a “gendered” artefact' (Wilfong 1997, 67), the vast majority have been found in female burials. They can be made of bone and ivory, wood, steatite, glass, gold, silver and bronze, and two 12cm long bronze examples were found within the hair of Princess Ahmosi c.1550 BC (Fletcher 1995, 376, 441) while the hair of an anonymous woman at Gurob c.AD 110 had been secured in a bun with pins of bone, tortoiseshell and silver (Walker and Bierbrier 1997, 209).
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