What? The glass bead necklace of the Pagan Lady of Peel.
Why? The Pagan Lady of Peel necklace is fascinating to me on many levels. There is a mystery that surrounds this lady and why she was buried with such wealth. Why as a pagan, she was buried in a Christian cemetery? How was she so wealthy? Who were her companions?My favourite theory is that she was a sorceress, seer, or healer (Price; Gardeła) and that she was paid for her services with invaluable, unique glass beads.
Through my work with other cultures, I’ve become aware of the cultural beliefs surrounding colours, particularly the idea that green is a healing colour. I was amused to see that the pagan lady has many green beads on her necklace.
My interest in the recreation of beads is also piqued. This necklace has a variety of beads, some of which have been analyzed to be 300 years old when the lady received them herself. [1]
Some of the beauty of this necklace to me was the number of varied sizes, shapes, and design elements in each individual bead.
Oval brooches were not found with this necklace, but many plausible reasons have been offered to range from not needing them in the next life, to the adoption of local dress or that they were going out of fashion by this time. There was no obvious material remaining to show what the beads were strung on, but organic material such as a leather cord would have been common. (Holgate) I chose to string mine on a leather cord, though normally I would use a thin twist wire as I prefer it.
The grave is one of the wealthiest female graves found in the British Isles. It is believed to be a reliable source of information by academics as it was professionally excavated and well documented. (Holgate) Isotope analysis has determined that the middle-aged Pagan Lady of Peel migrated to the island, possibly originating from a Norse settlement in the British Isles or even Scandinavia (Symonds, et al.)Details of the Recreation: I chose to recreate the 49 beads that are on display for historical accuracy. I looked at many, many images and positioning to get an approximate size for each bead. Some are not exact, but slight size variation would have been normal. Additionally, there is thousand-year-old wear on the beads that are on display, as well as some of those beads being even older than that. This means that whilst the bead may now appear quite square, they would have been rounder when freshly made. Colours and details are faded and many of the beads have to wear such as chips etc.
I have been working on developing my skill at melting glass and shaping it over the last six months. I have learnt a lot, including where in the flame certain glass must be placed so that it doesn’t ruin the colour or texture. I have learnt how to steadily place my hands and rotate both glass and mandrel so that an even amount of glass, at the right temperature, is kept at the right heat to then reproduce the desired bead.
The necklace presented a variety of challenges. Glass is a dangerous, sometimes fickle substance, and certain colours only work properly at a certain heat. Some of the trickier techniques (and melting glass onto a mandrel and keeping it even is tricky to start with!) that I used for this project include:
· Studying each (photo of) bead in a variety of lights to get a great grasp of the details and finishes required.
· Shaping thin beads, and ovals.
I used a graphite paddle, mandrels, bead release, a knife, fire annealing and gravity. I try and use the least tools possible and use authentic equipment that would have been used by the glassmakers of the time. Apart from my fire set-up, all the equipment I have used would have been used at the time as well.
Clear broken glass was often used as well as imported blocks of coloured glass. These colours were often obtained by raiding Roman sites and re-using mosaic tiles. (Regia Anglorum).
Bead artisans would have created a small kiln or furnace. The broken recycled glass would be put into the furnace through holes in the side to melt in a dish inside the furnace. Air was pumped into the furnace to keep the charcoal hot. (Guido)
I use a hot head torch and MAPP gas. In the future, I have plans to recreate a small portable kiln but melting glass in a small kiln is very difficult as getting the heat hot enough to melt the glass is a struggle.
Metal rods (mandrels) were dipped with a clay mixture called bead release. The molten glass is wound onto the rod until the desired shape was achieved. Once the bead size and shape were achieved a design could be added by heating thin bits of glass and wrapping them around the bead, with a “stringer” that was heated and laid on top. (Guido)
I use mandrels that would have been very similar to those used, however, mine are shorter as they don’t need to be as long to reach into a hot fire. The bead release I use has the crucial ingredients of water, kaolin and alumina hydrate which is a composition that would have been used.
Beads would then be moved to an annealing dish in the furnace. This would prevent thermal shock, lowering the chances of the bead cracking.
Instead of annealing them in a furnace, I use a product called vermiculite to allow the beads to cool down slowly. In the future, I would like to try annealing them in a furnace to see what it is like.
After the beads are finished, I remove them from the mandrels, clean them out with some bead cleaning tools and give them a quick clean with some soapy water. In the future, I would like to practice skills that are more difficult, e.g., fine line work, and millefiori use. For this project, I would match the sizes even more accurately as well as the colour and opacity.
Resources:
Primary Resources:
High Resolution Copy of the extant necklace: https://tinyurl.com/y4f2pzd4
Secondary Resources:
Gardeła, Leszek. “Viking Death Rituals on the Isles of Man”, Viking Myths and Rituals on the Isle of Man, University of Nottingham, 2014.
Goodrich, Russell. “Scandinavians and Settlement in the Eastern Irish Sea Region During the Viking Age”, PhD Dissertation, University of Missouri-Columbia, 2010.
Guido, Margaret. The Glass Beads of Anglo-Saxon England: c. AD 400-700, Boydell Press, 1999.
Holgate, Barbara. “The Pagan Lady of Peel”, St. Patrick’s Isle Archaeological Trust, 1987.
Morris, Carole. “An Irish ‘String’ Bead in Viking York”, Bead Society of Great Britain Newsletter, 58.
Price, Neil. The Viking Way: religion and war in late Iron Age Scandinavia. Aun 31. Uppsala, 2002.
Symonds, Leigh, et. al. “Medieval Migrations: Isotope Analysis of Early Medieval Skeletons of the Isle of Man”, Medieval Archaeology, 58, 2014.
Image credits
Image 0.5, 1, 5: Manx National Museum
Image 3, 4: Leszek Gardeła and Mirosław Kuźma, from the article “Viking Death Rituals on the Isles of Man”.
Images 2, 6-12: C Merritt
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