[Ansteorra] Pictures of real viking beads

[Christie Ward]

> I was so excited about Northkeep having a class on making 
> glass bead that I started to some research on bead  and 
> came upon this wonderful site. It has some really great 
> pictures of real Norse necklaces. I have a question --Were 
> the necklaces always worn attached to the brooches or were 
> they wore long some times???
> http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/vikbeads.shtml
> willow

That's my webpage, Your Grace, and thanks for the kind words.

In graves, we don't get the actual strung necklaces. Always the string has rotted, and we're forced to reconstruct as best we can based on positions in the graves. In Gotland, we know that "festoons" of several strands of beads were worn between the brooches because in some cases we have these metal or bone spacers at the ends and sometimes along the length - basically a bar with holes drilled in it

We also find loose beads here and there, probably because a necklace broke and a bead was missed or lost, in almost every Norse urban area.

If you liked the few pics on my page, then these inexpensive resources will simply rock your world:

Cost associated, but well worth it!
http://www.arkeodok.com/Vikingcd.html
http://www.lulu.com/product/file-download/viking-beads-from-gotland-sweden/659862

Free
http://www.scribd.com/doc/8493824/VikingBeads
http://www.hgo.se/frojel/Object%20Gallery/beadsmain.html
http://www.hgo.se/frojel/News/Volym4/Eng/page1.htm
http://www.hgo.se/frojel/News/Volym4/Eng/pagen4.htm
http://www.darkcompany.ca/beads/beads.php?submenu=B

::GUNNVOR::