A Bronze Age necklace found buried close to the River Tay near Dundee has been reassembled for the first time since around 2,000 BC by conservators at National Museums Scotland. The stunning item pieced together “like a tiny jigsaw” now reflects life during the period and tells a little of the times and its customs - and who might have worn it. It was first discovered around 1870 in a short cist, a stone lined grave, along with fragments of pottery, near the water at Balgay Estate and later donated to the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, a forerunner to NMS.
For decades, the individual beads have been in storage, their story untold. Following a request from McManus Museum in Dundee to show the necklace on loan, conservators were faced with the challenge of assembling and restringing the necklace. Just 33 original necklace beads remained with more than 60 replicas made to complete the piece.
READ MORE: How Scottish stone at Stonehenge may have been ‘diplomatic’ gift As the necklace re-emerged in complete form, so did traces of those who wore it. Under a microscope, wear marks where the beads had rubbed on the wearer’s clothing could be found. Those who made the necklace 4,000 years ago also had a presence in the tiny drill holes and decoration which had, in part, been made by a paste mixed with burnt bones - either animal or human.
Dr Matthew Knight, senior curator of prehistory at National Museums Scotland, said: “This necklace was not designed just to be worn in death. It shows lots and lots of signs of wear that suggests it was worn time and time again. It might have been something that was passed down through generations or just saw a lot of wear in life.
“It is a status symbol. Not everyone had this type of necklace. Either they didn’t have access to the necklace or to the skills or the materials to make it.
The material, Whitby Jet, comes from North Yorkshire so people have had to import that material north and had the skills to shape what would have been more than 100 beads into very precise arrangements. “They are really intricate, really skilfully designed. The spacer plates are quite ornately decorated.
They require really fine drills to drill the holes to string the beads up. “There are a lot of processes that go in to making this item. “If you are wearing it you are showing it off that you have access to all these skills or these materials.
” Dr Knight said it was an “immense privilege” to handle material so old. “It is both exciting and daunting. “We handle all this with gloves as we want to make sure it lasts for another 4,000 years.
It really is quite exciting to see the hands of the people who were working this 4,000 years ago and to know you are part of a much longer thing. “This is your connection to the people of 4,000 years ago. Following analysis by Dr Alison Sheridan, research associate at NMS and its former principal curator of prehistory, it was found there was also part of a bracelet among the beads stored in a box.
Dr Knight said: “We weren’t just dealing with one piece of jewellery but two. Around 80 other pieces of jet necklaces had been found across Scotland. He added the general area where the necklace was found was “quite rich in burials” with bodies left often with jet jewellery or jet buttons.
There were no bones left in the grave, partly due to preservation, but a female body - with the necklace - is believed to have been buried there..
