Long-toothed comb (Kemet and Kush)
Peine de dientes largos (Kemet y Kush)
- Date
- c. 3500 BCE · confidence low
- Place
- Nile Valley, Egypt
- Credited to
- Predynastic peoples of the Nile (Kemet and Kush)
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A long-toothed comb of bone, ivory or wood found in Predynastic tombs of the Nile Valley; it is the ancestor of the Afro pick, suited to coiled hair. It served at once as a grooming tool, an ornament and a status marker.
The world's oldest combs (bone, wood) are earlier and from other regions; the figure of 5,500 years for Nilotic combs is repeated mostly in popular sources and varies by site. Date and place are approximate.
What it led to
- grooming of hair with personal tools that accompanied the dead
- combs decorated with animals as a status symbol in Kemet and Kush
- an unbroken tradition of the Afro pick in Africa and the diaspora