Necklace (Piece)

This necklace made of beads and spacer plates of jet and cannel coal was found in a cist burial near Achcheargary Burn at Strathnaver in Sutherland. It was a prestige item originally imported from Yorkshire sometime between 2050 and 1800 BC.

This picture shows how the beads and spacer plates were probably arranged in the necklace. The individual pieces are all labelled with thread and numbers, and pinned into place, but the general shape is clear.

Jet was used in the Bronze Age for high status objects. The only significant source of good quality jet occurs around Whitby in Yorkshire. When jet pieces broke, people often used locally available substitutes such as cannel coal, as here.

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