At 1,200 years old, these simple fishbones are actually the earliest known example of medieval prayer beads in Britain.
The tiny beads were were discovered on Lindisfarne, Northumberland, where a crowdfunded dig lead by DigVentures and Durham University has been investigating the ruins of the early medieval monastery that was famously devastated by Viking raids in AD 793.
The beads had been made from salmon vertebrae and were found clustered around the neck of an individual who had been buried at the site around 1,200 years ago, between 700-800 AD.
Modified fish vertebrae found clustered around the neck of a skeleton, dating between 700-800 AD. Photo credit: DigVentures
Their position around the neck suggests that they had been strung like a necklace. While salmon vertebrae have a naturally occuring hole through the centre, close observation revealed that these had been widened, either deliberately by the maker to faciliate threading, or through wear after years of use.
Similar beads made from modified fish bones have been found at the medieval chapel at Chevington, also in Northumberland. These were made from Atlantic cod, among other fish, and dated from the 13th or 14th century, making the discovery at Lindisfarne significantly older.
And while medieval prayer beads were made of many different materials, archaeologists believe that with its coastal location, the use of fishbones could be significant.
“This early medieval monastery was located on a tidal island, where fish and the sea were important, not only on a day-to-day basis but in a religious sense too. [There are] stories of Christ and the Apostles being fishermen and going on the Sea of Galilee and calming storms. There are also stories about St Cuthbert (Bishop of Lindisfarne) calming storms, so the sea is symbolically important” says Dr. David Petts, the dig’s co-director and specialist in early Christianity at Durham University.
While the monks of Lindisfarne are famous for producing great artworks like the Lindisfarne Gospels – one of the most spectacular illuminated manuscripts to survive from early medieval England – this little discovery reveals a much more personal side to the monastery’s story, and an intimate glimpse into ways that people in the past expressed their beliefs, often through much more humble, homemade objects.
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