Object: Spacer-Plate Necklace

Date: Bronze Age

Description: Spacer-plate necklace made from Whitby jet with the addition of some lignite beads. It was found in one of 3 stone cists on the island of Inchmarnock. It had been buried with a young woman, who was given the title ‘Queen of the Inch’. The necklace was restrung by Dr Alison Sheridan who found that it had been made up from parts of at least four necklaces. The lower spacer plates had been re-bored to bring the number of strands up from eight to ten.  

Origin: The three cists discovered on Inchmarnock by Dan Boag in 1960, were excavated by Dorothy Marshall. The bones were re-excavated in 2006 and radiocarbon-dated to between 2140 BC and 1900 BC before being re-interred in the cist.