Material culture as memory: combs and cremation in early medieval Britain

This paper argues that mortuary practices can be understood as ‘techno‐logies of remembrance’. The frequent discovery of combs in early medieval cremation burials can be explained by their mnemonic significance in the post‐cremation rite. Combs (and other objects used to maintain the body's surface in life) served to articulate the reconstruction of the deceased's personhood in death through strategies of remembering and forgetting. This interpretation suggests new perspectives on the relationships between death, material culture and social memory in early medieval Europe.