The Poltalloch jet jewellery in context: examining supernatural power dressing

The magnificent spacer-plate necklace and bracelet of jet and jet-like materials that is currently on display in Kilmartin Museum, on loan from National Museums Scotland, was once the treasured possession of a high-ranking woman buried in the Glen. Made between 2200 BC and 2000 BC, this jewellery has an amazing story to tell, not only about the specialist Whitby jetworkers who made the necklace in the first place, but also about the well-connected people who buried their important dead in imposing tombs in the Glen during its ‘Golden Age’, and about the woman with whom it had been buried. In this lecture, Dr Alison Sheridan (Research Associate, National Museums Scotland) will also explore the beliefs surrounding the use of jet (and of the other similar-looking materials that were used as substitutes) - it could well have been believed to have magical powers, and thus constitute a kind of ‘supernatural power dressing’, protecting the deceased during her journey to the Afterlife. The life story of the necklace will be recounted, and its relationship to the other examples of Early Bronze Age spacer-plate jewellery in Scotland and further afield.

[@HKTeacup]

What an excellent talk! Fascinating, and a very knowledgeable and informative speaker. Thank you very much for posting it here (I had to miss it when it was on 'live' unfortunately). Great stuff!

[@FinlagganYT]

15:44 couldn’t stop laughing at this part of the video, such an excellent talk, love it

[@andrewjinks7546]

Some information given here, unfortunately embedded in a morass of assumptions about hierarchies of power asserted as facts. Thanks for the descriptions of the objects themselves and how they were made though (very beautiful they are too).