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Clasp, necklace and spoon
Glass beaker
Length: 25.000 cm
(overall)
Height: 2.500 cm
(bead)
M&ME 1876,5-4,1
Prehistory and Europe
Anglo-Saxon England
The Desborough Necklace
The Desborough Necklace is the finest of its kind surviving from Anglo-Saxon England, richly made from gold beads and deep red garnets. It was found buried near the head of a female skeleton in a grave. The gold tells us that she must have been extremely wealthy, and the cross tells us that she was a Christian.
To begin with, the Anglo-Saxons worshipped pagan gods based on nature and the weather. But in AD 597, St Augustine landed in Kent and began converting the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. By the eighth century, nearly everyone was Christian and the church had become very rich and powerful.
Other views: Drawings made shortly after the necklace was found in 1876 showing the necklace with some objects found in the next grave - a glass beaker, a clasp and a spoon.