Holy Island, Northumberland, England, July 5, 2022
Photo: civilisationsanciennes.org
A rare religious artifact was recently uncovered on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne.
During last year’s dig season, a grave was uncovered with a man, believed to be a monk, who was found wearing a bead necklace fashioned from salmon vertebrae.
The necklace dates back to the 8th or 9th century and is the only artifact ever found in a Lindisfarne grave, reports Arkeonews.
The prayer beads were recognized by zooarchaeologist Marina Chorro Giner. “This bright, eagle-eyed researcher looked at them and said, actually these aren’t just fish bones, they’ve been modified and turned into something,” he said.
Photo: arkeonews.net
“The holes in the vertebrae through which the spinal column runs were enlarged, either during the making of the necklace and/or over time as the bones wore against the threading. Fish were one of the earliest recognized Christian emblems, therefore fish bones are both a thematically fitting material and a readily available local supply for devotional jewelry,” the outlet writes.
Lindisfarne, known as the Holy Island in England, is known for the illuminated Lindisfarne Gospel, and as home to a number of great ascetics and holy hierarchs of the first-millennium, undivided Church, such as St. Cuthbert and St. Aidan.
In 2017, the foundations of what is likely one of the largest and earliest Saxon churches on Lindisfarne were unearthed.
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