Britain’s Oldest Prayer Beads

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Image by danny moore from Pixabay

The Telegraph reports that archaeologists on the island of Lindisfarne have discovered prayers beads made from salmon vertebrae. Believed to date from the 8th to 9th century AD, the beads are the earliest known example ever found.

Whose were they? How were they made? How were they used? We might assume they were used in Christian rites, but perhaps not. What power did they have? What gifts did they bestow? What have archaeologists unleashed on the modern world now? What happens next?