[Bonetools] Brushes

[Marit Gaimster]

Hi Ariel – that’s a great story!

Marit

From: Bonetools [mailto:bonetools-bounces at listserv.niif.hu] On Behalf Of Ariel Shatil
Sent: 30 April 2014 09:48
To: Mailing list for archaeologists of the research group for the study of object and waste of bone, antler. ivory and horn.
Subject: Re: [Bonetools] Brushes

Hi Marit, thank you for the information!
Indeed I noticed the tunnel crossing into each line of holes and thought it was serving a similar purpose as the incisions, and probably related to attaching the tufts.
Here's a little story about how the modern tooth brush was invented, and guess what: it was a bone tool from the inventor's dinner. The story is from Wikipedia, so I'm not sure whats fact and whats legend.

"In 1770, he (William Addis) had been jailed for causing a riot; while in prison he decided that the method used to clean teeth – at the time rubbing a rag<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile> with soot<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soot> and salt<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt> on the teeth – was ineffective and could be improved. To that end, he saved a small animal bone<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone> left over from the meal he had eaten the previous night, into which he drilled small holes. He then obtained some bristles from one of his guards, which he tied in tufts that he then passed through the holes in the bone, and which he finally sealed with glue. After his release, he started a business that would manufacture the toothbrushes he had built, and he soon became very rich. He died in 1808"
Ariel

On Wed, Apr 30, 2014 at 11:33 AM, Marit Gaimster <MGaimster at pre-construct.com<mailto:MGaimster at pre-construct.com>> wrote:
Hi Ariel,

The reason there are no incisions on the back of your toothbrushes is that they were made using a different technique. Where the graves at the back were for securing the copper-alloy wire that held the tufts together, on your toothbrushes tunnels were drilled from the end of the head, joining the drilled holes; the bristle was then attached with the help of a looped wire that was pushed through the tunnel and up through each hole. To create a smooth finish, the tiny tunnel holes were then plugged!

Best wishes from Marit


From: Bonetools [mailto:bonetools-bounces at listserv.niif.hu<mailto:bonetools-bounces at listserv.niif.hu>] On Behalf Of Ariel Shatil
Sent: 30 April 2014 06:57
To: Mailing list for archaeologists of the research group for the study of object and waste of bone, antler. ivory and horn.
Subject: [Bonetools] Brushes

Dear list,
A few weeks or months ago Etan Ayalon asked for parallels to a fragment of a tooth brush from Wadi al-Sheih (Haifa, Israel). Here are a few fragments of tooth brushes from Jerusalem probably dating to the late Ottoman period or British Mandate. They are only slightly different from Etan's brushes (there are no line incisions on the back). Some of them have holes piercing through the brush, so maybe they were attached to a frame from a different material?
Another interesting brush is a large rectangular one with many holes, all of them pierce through the object, so it must have had a frame of wood, horn or other material or it was double sided. The rims around the circumference are painted brown-red, and on the sides there are the remains of a hard flaky substance (maybe glue). The holes are arranged in a nice pattern - two high rimed holes surrounded by 8 regular holes.The opposite surface is completely flat without the alternating high rimed holes (therefore I think it was covered).

--
Ariel Shatil
Institute of Archaeology
The Hebrew University, Jerusalem

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--
Ariel Shatil
Institute of Archaeology
The Hebrew University, Jerusalem
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