TR 34465526. Part of a rare Iron Age glass bead (see illustrration) was found during field walking by the Dover Archaeological Group in September 1983, at Worth Minnis, near Deal. The bead of translucent dark royal blue glass decorated with a single row of white paste spirals was found on a small surface outcrop of alluvial clay which issurrounded by dark, peaty soil on a marshland once covered by the southern end of the Wantsum channel. A collection of struck flints, including a chip from the cutting edge of a polished Neolithic axe, was also recovered from this clay area. All the flint material is of general Neolithic - Bronze Age type. The bead is of later Iron age date appears to be an isolated find; when complete it was probably about 1.8 cms in diameter and 1 cm high with a central perforation of 1 cm across. Striations inside the perforation clearly indicate that it had been filed out to form a holerather than that originally made. (1) It belongs to Margaret Guide's Grop 2 miscellaneous spiral-decorated beads of Continental origin or inspiration. (1,2)

<1> KAR no 76 1984 135-6 (K Parfitt) (OS Card Reference). SKE45468.

<2> Rpts Res Com Soc Ants 35 Glass Beads of Prehist & Ro Periods Brit & I 1978 60 (M Guido) (OS Card Reference). SKE49353.