Cleopatra’s Necklace

Here’s an interesting find, estimated to be 2,400 years old. They are glass beads. Did you know that the biggest slab of glass ever found from the ancient world is in “Beit She’arim” in the Galilee, Israel? Beit She’arim is a cemetery where the editor of the Mishna (the first “layer” of the Talmud), Judah the Prince/Yehudah haNasi (135 to 217 CE) is buried. Most people visiting this cemetery don’t realize that the chunk of glass is there looking somewhat opaque on the floor of the cave that serves as the visitor’s center. The rectangular glass slab is 11×6.5×1.5 feet, weighing 9 tons. I believe that, for sheer weight, this glass was only surpassed when they built the Hale Telescope in 1948! Now in Siberia they found this very interesting glass necklace:

Excerpts of article by Lucy Crossley in dailymail.co.uk

Extraordinary brightly-coloured glass jewellery believed to be from Ancient Egypt has been found in a 2,400-year-old burial mound in Siberia.
Nicknamed ‘Cleopatra’s Necklace’ by the Russians who found it, the jewellery was discovered on the skeleton of a 25-year-old woman, believed to have been a virgin priestess.
Although it was discovered during a dig nine years ago, this is the first time a picture of the priceless 17-bead necklace has been shown since it was found in the Altai Mountains by archaeologist Yelena Borodovskya.

Siberian academics have released the images in the hope of finding experts from across the world who may be able to pinpoint the necklace’s exact origin.

Click here to see the pictures.