Description

Summary: 334 amber beads from an amber space-plate necklace with complex borings found with a secondary cremation in bowl barrow Upton Lovell G2e, excavated by William Cunnington

Research results

A group of 334 amber beads from a necklace (or necklaces) excavated in association with a probable secondary cremation underneath the 'Golden Barrow' (Upton Lovell G2e) by William Cunnington. The survivors of 'over 1000' amber beads excavated by Cunnington, found alongside seven fragments of spacers and a terminal plate. The majority of these beads are of globular in shape, with flattened sides allowing them to have sat neatly when strung together. Originally, several strands would have ran between each spacer. Interestingly, many of the spacer plates appear to have been damaged in antiquity and coupled with the lack of a second terminal plate suggests the necklace had a long lifespan, and was reworked from an earlier necklace after that had become damaged. The spacers and the majority of the beads were excavated by Cunnington in 1803, however he would return to the barrow in 1807 and reported to find further amber beads; it is not clear whether these are from the same burial or necklace.