#FindsFriday Jet beads

For this #FindsFriday we have some fashionable Roman beads! 💁💎

These Roman jet beads were found around the neck of the female in a shared grave (potentially husband and wife).

Jet was very popular in Roman Britain from around the 3rd century AD, It was commonly used for jewellery 💍 which took many forms including hair pins, carved pendants, and many different beads. It was also believed to hold magical 🔮 and curative properties in its fumes. Its alleged medical uses were written about by Pliny in the 1st century AD and extended to healing toothache and even tumours!

These particular beads, which would have been made on a lathe, take a cylindrical form and are segmented with carved transverse grooves which allowed for the beads to be snapped easily to the required length which accounts for the different sizes of these beads though they are from the same piece of jewellery. It was common for the beads to have been intentionally different lengths but they were likely also snapped post burial.

Written by work experience student Harri.