Amber Beads in London

These 19 individually polished, red amber beads were excavated from one of the earliest graves belonging to a Saxon Londoner, on the site of the London Transport Museum in 2003. This object was one of several grave goods accompanying a somewhat enigmatic burial.

The amber beads have been highlighted from this assemblage because, of all the grave goods, they are the most ‘exotic’, having been sourced and traded from the Baltic. Amber was especially popular in the C5th and C6th and favoured in the Anglian and Saxon regions of England. Despite this popularity, this specific jewellery type is the first excavated from the London region, making it unique.

The unusual Amber beads from this burial are only one piece of a puzzle that epitomizes how archaeology often asks more questions of its material than it can ever answer.

More information can be found here - www.mymuseumoflondon.org.uk