Back on display after 4,000 Years

A bronze age necklace and bracelet is going on show the first time in more than 4,000 years – thanks to support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery.  

The jewellery was discovered in pieces in a burial site near Dundee in 1870.  

Now conservators at National Museums Scotland have restored the set to its former glory, bringing it back to life for a new generation. 

Matthew Knight, Senior Curator of Prehistory at National Museums Scotland, said: “The painstaking work undertaken by National Museums Scotland researchers and conservators has been truly special and allows us to travel back in time and experience these important Bronze Age objects as they would have been seen thousands of years ago.” 

Experts, who described the project as a jigsaw puzzle, spent hours analysing and restoring the original forty two Jet beads and nine Jet plates found on the former Balgay Estate, before creating new replacement beads so the set could be restrung in its original Bronze Age formation. 

For more than one hundred years, it was thought the beads were from a single piece of jewellery – but new research techniques revealed they were part of a matching bracelet and necklace set.  

Conservators said the craftmanship of the jewellery showed they had been valuable pieces, and signs of wear on the larger plates suggested it had been worn frequently and treasured, most likely by a woman of status. 

The jewellery is now on loan and on display at Dundee’s McManus Art Gallery and Museum, thanks to support from Postcode Lottery players, who have raised £4million for National Museums Scotland since 2012. 

Christina Donald, Curator of Early History at Leisure & Culture Dundee, said: " Thanks to the expertise and generosity of National Museums Scotland, we can showcase the jewellery and reveal the results of in-depth scientific research to shed light on these important artefacts. Documentary study by volunteers from Abertay Historical Society and Friends of Balgay Park has also helped us share the story of the re-discovery of this necklace and bracelet more than 100 years ago by the banks of the Tay."