Combing through history: Ipswich, Suffolk

A new publication, An Early Medieval Craft: antler and bone working from Ipswich excavations 1974-1994, details the extraordinary Viking Age finds discovered over the course of 20 years of digging in the town by Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service (SCCAS). In total, the excavations uncovered an astonishing 2,400 bone and antler waste fragments and over 1,300 objects, most of which date to between the 7th and 12th centuries AD. Viking-made artefacts were especially common, surpassing all other known sites in England in terms of both quantity and quality. Combs were some of the most frequent Viking items uncovered, and appear to have been made both abroad and within Ipswich itself