ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF

The red deer antler carving is the first gravoir found in Scotland, offering clues to how medieval elites created elaborate hairstyles inspired by continental fashion.

Archaeologists excavating Eilean Donan Castle in Dornie, Kyle of Lochalsh, uncovered a 13th-century hair-styling tool called a gravoir during fieldwork led by FAS Heritage and overseen by National Museums Scotland. Carved from red deer antler, the piece showed a hooded figure holding a book.
“Gravoirs were used to part hair neatly and create elaborate hairstyles, and only three have been found in the United Kingdom,” said Alice Blackwell, senior curator of medieval archaeology and history at National Museums Scotland, according to BBC News. She noted that the other two examples came from London, that most are ivory, and that the antler version from Eilean Donan illustrated how continental fashions were adapted with local materials. Blackwell added that a gravoir typically formed part of a set that included a mirror and a comb.
Researchers suggested the carved figure might represent the Celtic missionary St. Donan, though further study will be required. The tool joined an assemblage that offered what Blackwell called “a privileged glimpse into life in medieval Scotland,” according to the Scottish Sun.

The excavation yielded brooches, dress pins, crucibles bearing traces of copper alloy, silver, and gold, an iron jaw harp, decorated bone game pieces made from recycled pottery, and evidence for on-site production of items ranging from buckles to swords. National Museums Scotland described the material as one of the most important medieval metalworking collections in the United Kingdom; about 80 boxes of artifacts are now housed at the institution’s collection center in Granton, Edinburgh.

Miranda van Lynden, head trustee of the Conchra Charitable Trust, which owns the castle, said the trust launched the dig to learn more about life at the fortress during its height in the 13th and 14th centuries and hoped the findings would introduce Eilean Donan’s history to new audiences, according to the Scottish Sun.
Eilean Donan served as the center of a Gaelic lordship from the 13th to the 15th centuries. Long a popular tourist destination, it has appeared on screen in the 1986 film Highlander and the 1999 James Bond movie The World Is Not Enough.