Summary

This bone shaving brush handle was excavated at Casselden Place in 2003.

Health and hygiene.
'Cleanliness is next to Godliness'. This is a difficult maxim to follow when 'there is not one bath in sixty', when sewerage gathers in cesspits and open drainage channels line the streets.But the residents of Little Lon did practice personal hygiene. Archaeologists have uncovered toothbrushes and toothpaste pots, scent bottles, soap dishes, combs and hairbrushes.
Clean teeth and neat hair did not guarantee good health however. Doctors were expensive, so ordinary people had to rely on medicines like Holloway's Ointment and Hall's Vegetable Pain Conqueror as well as Chinese herbal remedies. Children were dosed weekly with the laxative castor oil, to keep their bowels regular.

Physical Description

This small carved bone object is made up of three parts. The first part is rounded and tubular and has a thread at one opening. This screws onto the middle part which is a slightly flared tube that also has a thread at its end. This screws onto a flat lid or base.

Physical Description

Identified as shaving or sewing item. Parent record. Recorded in EMu as shaving brush or sewing-related.

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