What is it about?
This article is an introduction to a collection of short essays that treat hair - across time and space - as a vital piece of evidence for understanding past societies. I use the piece to push for a new agenda, to stop thinking about hair as a curiosity, and as something that is key to understanding human identity.
Featured Image
Photo by Rachel Coyne on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Hair is more than just a biological part of the body; it is a powerful symbol that people in the past used to show who they were, how much power they had, and what they believed.
Perspectives
This collection was a joy to edit. I have worked a lot on hair in the Viking Age, but here I got to work with specialists working on ahair and haircare in ancient Roman, Egyptian, and modern contexts. It's a really fun read, and I hope an important one.
Dr Steven P Ashby
University of York
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Archaeologies of Hair, Internet Archaeology, January 2016, Council for British Archaeology,
DOI: 10.11141/ia.42.6.1.
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Contributors
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