Star find at Swartigill archaeology dig near Thrumster of 'beautifully decorated glass bead' that is possibly 2000 years old

The Swartigill archaeological dig on the Thrumster Estate reported a "star find" yesterday with a colourful 2000-year-old bead with a yellow spiral pattern.

The Iron Age site is currently being worked on by a team of volunteers, students and experienced archaeologists from Orkney and on Tuesday (August 23) the half-fragment of a beautifully decorated glass bead was discovered by former UHI student, Val Ashpool who lives locally.

The bead is described as a beautiful globular shape, with what appears to be a dark background and a very clear, well-executed, yellow spiral decoration (originally on three sides).

The Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA) said it is officially classed as a Guido Class 13 Northern Spiral – a type that would have a date range of somewhere between the 200BC and 200AD.

The UHI Archaeology Institute's website says: "The dark background colour of these beads was traditionally taken as opaque glass. But with modern backlighting we can see that this kind of bead is a deep translucent."

The beads are known to have been made in and around Invernesshire and Morayshire – at sites like the recently excavated Culduthel – where Roman glass was recycled to make them.

It is thought that the beads were not made in the North Atlantic region of Scotland and are therefore probably imports to locations like Swartigill in Caithness, or Mine Howe in Orkney, where another such bead was discovered. There was also a spiral bead of this type discovered during the 19th Century excavations at Bowermadden broch in Caithness as well.

This is not the first glass body ornament to be discovered from Swartigill, as no less than three “miniscule” blue beads were recovered from environmental soil samples from the site last year. The spiral bead is much larger and more ornate and was perhaps originally the centrepiece of a complex string of beads.

ORCA states that the beads are often seen as "markers of social status and identity by Iron Age scholars" and this piece is certainly large and ornate enough to have made a conspicuous statement about the wearer in its own right.

The spiral bead came from the south-west extension to the site, which was opened this year to explore the extent of later building, Structure E. The bead was in a layer of rubble, perhaps associated with a possible newly emerging structure which pre-dates Structure E.

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From potential facets visible on the bead it is possible that at the end of its life it had been “cold-worked” – a process whereby parts of the bead would be cut in order to further recycle it for use in things like glass paste inlays in elaborate bronze metalwork, providing colourful insets to parts of brooches and the like.

This, however, will have to await possible confirmation from further examination, says the ORCA team.

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