Circa 600 BC, European An early necklace formed from beads and bell amulets. Bells had magical implicatinos in ancient societies as their unpredictable noises could help to keep away evil spirits. Such pendants may originally have belonged to precursors of the Druids. A Druid (Celtic:Knowing [or Finding] the Oak Tree) was a member of the learned class among the ancient Celts. They seem to have frequented oak forests and acted as priests, teachers, and judges. The earliest written testimony of the Druidses from the 3rd century BC but they probably originated much earlier as this late dating reflects the point at which the literate Greek-speaking societies of the Mediterrnean came into contact with the Celts of Northern Europe. Size: L:244mm / W:22mm; 55.09g Provenance: Property of a London Gentleman; formerly in a private UK collection formed in the the 1990s.