Ulster Museum Collection Highlights - Objects of Desire
Amber Necklace
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 Amber Necklace |
 Gin Glass |
 Neck Ornament |
 Irish Lady's Tresses Orchid |
 The Lennox Quilt |
 Fossil Crinoids |
 Madonna and Child |
 A Red Alga |
 Irish Wolfhound |
 Coates Family Photograph |
 Chinese Ivory Puzzle Ball |
 Early Medieval Tomb-shaped Shrine |
 The Green Coat, Sir John Lavery |
 Juvenile Bald Eagle |
Amber Necklace, Kurin, County Londonderry
Late Bronze Age
Purchased
Accession Number: A260.1962
In February 1962 the Ulster Museum purchased 303 amber beads that were probably originally part of a necklace. The beads had been discovered in 1903 by a local man at Kurin Moss within the townland of Kurin, near Garvagh, County Londonderry. These beads, however, formed only part of the original discovery at Kurin.
In April 1905 the private collection of Irish antiquities belonging to the Rev. G. R. Buick of Cullybackey, County Antrim, was sold by auction in Belfast. Lot 101 in the sale catalogue describes a String of 421 Amber Beads, of all sizes . Found in Kerwin Moss, Garvagh; all one find. The fate of some 118 beads therefore remains a mystery.
The Kurin necklace dates to the later part of the Irish Bronze Age (between 1500 and 300 BC). Amber is not native to Ireland and the closest sources are in the Baltic Sea area. Its presence, therefore, suggests that travelling traders brought it to Ireland or local traders brought it back from foreign travels. Amber would have been viewed as an exotic material and its rarity would have meant that it had a high material value in Irish prehistoric society. Necklaces of amber are quite rare and it believed that amber was too highly valued to have been taken out of circulation. It is more common for a single bead, or a small group to be found, sometimes in a grave or in a hoard with other objects.
Comment
Sinead McCartan, Curator of Prehistoric Antiquities
I believe the Kurin necklace is one of the finest objects in the archaeology collections of the Ulster Museum. We have only one other amber necklace of 33 beads that was found at Craigbilly, County Antrim. The colour of amber exudes a warmth and richness that explains why it was so attractive for use as personal ornamentation. Great skill and care has been taken to make the beads- several shapes are represented, and many of the beads have been finely ground and polished to give them an extremely smooth surface. To possess an amber necklace during the later part of the Irish Bronze Age meant that you were a person of status.
