- Chapter Seven -
that Celtic warriors had blond hair and used limewash to enhance its appearance. The
hair was then pulled back from the forehead towards the top of the head and back
towards the nape of the neck. 57 This style is illustrated on the obverse of a denarius of
L. Hostilius Saserna struck C.48 BC which shows a bearded and moustachioed warrior
in right profile with a miniature shield behind his head and a chain round the neck.
He has been identified as Vercingetorix, King of the Arverni, who led a loose confed-
eration of Gaulish tribes against Caesar from 52 BC until his capture after the fall of
Alesia.^58 Hair colouration was probably much the same as is seen on any cross-section
of the modern northern European populace. Black was the colour of Noisiu's hair,
who was to be the chosen lover of Deidre of the Sorrows, whilst in the story of 'The
Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel' Conaire Mor sees three other worldly horsemen
riding before him, 'red of body, hair and clothing'. 59 Few pre-Roman representations
survive which show the type of hairstyle worn by both sexes, as compared with those
from the Imperial period. Men seem to have worn their hair to about shoulder length.
As has been mentioned, Boudica and probably most noble women would have grown
their hair to show status, as well as being attractive for its length and colour. This
can be compared with the Japanese appreciation of female beauty during the Heian
period (c.95Q-1050), when length of hair and its appearance was not only a woman's
crowning glory but could also incite passionate admiration and infatuation.6o It seems
highly likely that most women working in the home and on the land with their family
would, for purely practical purposes, want to tie it or fasten it back so that it didn't get
in the way of the task in hand. The advent of the Romans as occupying force and
administrators, with their families, would have influenced hairstyles amongst the local
populace (Figure 7.6), and seen the adoption of ornamental hairpins of precious
metals, copper alloy as well as bone, antler, glass and jet.^61 Some rare actual examples
of hair preserved on heads of the dead have survived. One skull from the peat bog at
Osterby, in the district of Eckernforde, Schleswig-Holstein, has the hair coiled into a
knot on the right side of the head, in the same fashion as described by Tacitus as being
typical of Suebian freemen and warriors.^62 From York come a number of burials
where gypsum was poured over the body, and in two cases the whole head of hair
was preserved: one was a woman's auburn hair in ringlets; the other, found in a lead
coffin, came from the body of an adolescent girl with auburn hair fastened up in a bun
by two jet pins.^63 As hairbrushes do not appear to have been made or used until the
seventeenth century or later,64 combs were the only practical way of untangling the
knots and grooming the hair into simple neatness or elaborate styles. Some double-
sided combs had a set of coarse teeth, and a very much finer set, which could be used
not only to produce a smooth glossy appearance, but also to extract unwelcome
inhabitants such as nits and lice. Combs of this type and other designs were made of
antler, bone, wood - especially boxwood - and, less common, horn or metal. Two
small bone combs have been recorded from Scotland, both with incised Celtic-style
ornamentation on the solid semicircular section above the line of teeth.^65 Ivory was
also used for combs, and it is particularly interesting to note that Pope Boniface V sent
a gilded ivory comb to Ethelburga, Queen to King Edwin of Northumbria.^66
It seems unlikely that this was a unique incident, and other noble or wealthy women
may also have been honoured by such a gift, perhaps marking a special event, or from
individuals hoping to gain favours or advancement in return.
(^104)