St Patrick's Isle Necklace, mid-late 10th century (glass, amber & jet)

This remarkable collection of colourful beads was discovered in the grave of a woman who had been buried on St Patrick’s Isle just over one thousand years ago. The beads were loose in the grave, but all lay around her neck. Most of the beads are made from plain glass in different colours – white, red, yellow, green, orange and blue. Some of the plain green glass beads were already three hundred years old when the woman wore them. Some of the beads are patterned glass of a type made in Italy, some are flower-shaped and some are spiralled. Others are made from amber and one is made from jet. This woman was buried during the time of the Vikings and it is unusual to get such a richly-furnished female grave. The beads may have been souvenirs from her husband’s travels. Other grave goods found with her remains have been interpreted as domestic trappings – she was the head of the home. But perhaps she was also something else – a wise woman, a healer, a shaman – and the beads were payments from those she treated.