Viking Bead Research: 'Perler fra vikingtiden'

An interesting item I stumbled on regarding Viking Age beads is the dissertation "Perler fra vikingtiden (Beads of the Viking Age)" by Megan Hickey.  This work specifically covers beads from Viking Age Britain.  You can download it for free here.

I highly recommend taking a look at this work as it discusses bead finds in context (grave vs production sites), and also details where they were found in situ in the case of graves.  Charts detail the number of finds along with things like color and decoration.  To give a snapshot of some of the data in the piece, it notes that 76.1% of beads from non-production sites were glass (10.4% were amber and all other types were significantly less).  59% of beads at non-production sites were undecorated, 22% decorated and 19% of the finds are unknown.  The percentage of undecorated vs. decorated is even higher at production sites.

Regarding color, blue undecorated beads are the most common, followed by yellow and green. It is interesting to note that all of the gold/silver foil type beads were found at one site, Kneep (which I discussed last week here ). 

The report also has a number of interesting tables, including one that breaks down graves by age and gender.  There are also discussions of some of the issues with excavations and also other uses of beads beyond necklaces.  There is even a comparison to trends in Scandinavia.

I was hoping to track down some of the finds that had a number of beads in conjunction with oval brooches, but, unfortunately, many of them were excavated well over 100 years ago.  I am still hoping to find some of these items located in museums, but I fret that I might just be stuck with some pretty terrible descriptions such as the one below from the 1800s.  (Are you kidding me???)

But, one of the things that the dissertation did for me was lead me to research several interesting graves.  The paper had no illustrations, though it had brief descriptions of the finds, so I decided to see what images I could track down some of them online (or in books at home). 

Ballinaby, Scotland

From a double burial (excavated in 1878) there were beads, as well as oval brooches, at Ballinaby.  One source notes that there were 12 beads, though the original documents only show drawings of a few. Also interesting in this grave is a flat chain of 4 strand silver wire.

Image from Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1878.

Peel, Isle of Man

Another mentioned in the dissertation is the Pagan Lady of Peel, a grave from the first half of the 10th Century.  This necklace had 71 beads, but was not worn in conjunction with oval brooches.  I plan to take a more in depth look at this particular grave soon, but for now, here is an image of the jewelry.

Saffron Waldon, Essex

Saffron Waldon, Essex, has a fascinating necklace.  This is a mid-to-late 10th century item, that is discussed in a bit more detail in Jane Kershaw's book Viking Identities: Scandinavian Jewelry in England.  Kershaw mentions that the center pendant seen below is likely to be an Anglo Saxon item, while the others had Scandinavian origins.  The grave was excavated in 1877.  There were no oval brooches found in this grave but scholars in the mid-1960s believe that this represented a pagan burial of a Scandinavian immigrant. 

Pierowall, Grave 4

​I am still trying to track down an image of Pierowall, Grave 4, though I am not sure that one exists at this time.  The description of the grave from the Journal of the British Archaeological Association (1846) is as follows:​

Cumwhitton, Graves 2 & 3

I plan to talk more about the graves, and additional beads from this site later this week.  Grave 2 has been labeled a female grave, and 3 is considered male, but both have beads.  2 is particularly interesting as it not only contains no oval brooches but does have evidence of a belt.  (Grave one did have oval brooches as well as a solitary bead.)

Resources

​Anderson, Joseph.  "Notes on the contents of two Viking Graves in Islay", Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Volume 14, 1878 (https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_014/14_051_094.pdf )

Crofton Crocker, T. "Antiquities discovered in Orkney and Ireland, compared", Journal of the British Archaeological Association, Volume 2, 1846.

Hickey, Megan.  "Perler fra vikingtiden (Beads of the Viking Age)", 2014. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/8571/
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Kershaw, Jane. Viking Identities: Scandinavian Jewelry in England, Oxford University Press, 2013. (​https://amzn.to/2FRNteC)

Parsons, Adam, et. al.  Shadows in the Sand: Excavation of a Viking-Age Cemetery at Cumwhitton, Oxford Archaeology, 2014.