Crowning Glories: Languages of Hair in Later Prehistoric Europe

Abstract

In most societies, the presentation of human hair makes statements about projections of self, belonging, and difference. Drawing upon analogies from living traditions where hair makes an important contribution to symbolic grammars of personhood, this paper seeks to explore the evidence for symbolism associated with head and body hair in later European prehistory. This evidence is wide ranging, and includes the (exceptional) survival of hair in the archaeological record, iconography, and the equipment used for the management of hair. Questions are raised as to the manner in which hair may have been employed in visual languages, not only those associated with self-identity, but also in the presentation of ‘others’, whether social outcasts, sacrificial victims, shamed prisoners or special people, such as priests, shamans, or heroes. Issues of relationships between hair and gender are addressed, particularly with reference to iconography. The final part of the paper is concerned with the socio-political connotations associated with personal grooming and, in particular, the significance of adopting new, Roman, ways of managing hair in late Iron Age Britain.

Iron Age bog bodies of north-western Europe. Representing the dead

“…An elaborate topknot hairstyle was kept in place by a plant-based oil mixed with pine resin from France or Spain (Mulhall and Briggs 2007, 74). This has been interpreted as an attempt to exaggerate his height (Joann Fletcher, honorary research fellow in archaeology, University of York, cited in Grice 2006, 20), although Aldhouse- Green (2004b) argues that the plaiting, pinning or setting of hair during this era may be part of how adult, virile, male status was represented and performed. A number of the female bog bodies from Denmark have had their hair cut off or partly shaved, shortly before their death (see below), and Grice records (2006, 19) that the front part of Cloneycavan Man's head was similarly shaved short.…”

“…A number of the female bog bodies from Denmark have had their hair cut off or partly shaved, shortly before their death (see below), and Grice records (2006, 19) that the front part of Cloneycavan Man's head was similarly shaved short. This attention to his hair and its lavish adornment before mutilation may also therefore have been an integral part of the preparatory sacrificial rituals (Aldhouse -Green 2004b). From the remains that were interred, Cloneycavan Man appears to have been killed by several shattering blows to the skull, a wound to the chest from an implement such as an axe, and a 40-centimetre gash to the abdomen area, which may indicate disembowelling (Mulhall and Briggs 2007, 74).…”

A Late Iron Age Helmet Burial from Bridge, near Canterbury, Kent

“…The head and hair were an important locus of power in Iron Age culture (Aldhouse-Green 2004; Armit 2012). Human representations, although rare, often emphasise the head, and objects such as helmets and head-dresses which framed the head and face may have been an important mechanism for signalling power and authority.…”

Chaining and shaming: images of defeat, from Llyn Cerrig Bach to Sarmitzegetusa

“…Hair is symbolically charged: it makes a considerable contribution to persona; it is an extension of self and its continued growth after death imbues it with magic. Cutting hair, changing hairstyles and covering the head are often associated with life‐stages, particularly puberty; baldness and beard‐growth are also age‐related (Aldhouse‐Green forthcoming). Hair arrangement often acts as a marker of belonging or exclusion, social status or religious affiliation (Arnoldi 1995a, 53–66; Banks 2000, 3–5), and it is the only part of the body capable of immediate and frequent alteration.…”