These glass beads are part of a chain. The beads were found in a burial mound south of Zutphen, in the neighbourhood of Leesten. It is the oldest discovery of glass in The Netherlands. The archaeologists know that the glass comes from Egypt or Syria. In northern Italy beads were made from it. How did these beads come to be in Zutphen? To find out we need to look at early history, after the Bronze Age, about 800 B.C. The hunter-gatherers’ time is over, and there were farming settlements everywhere with extensive fields. More attention was paid to burying the dead, due to living in permanent dwellings. A cremated person’s ashes were kept in an urn and, together with a few gifts or possessions, buried with the dead. Around the burial mound, a ditch was dug to give it more prominence. Archaeologists think this chain belonged to a high-ranking lady, due to the scarcity of the material. The clothing accessories you see in the display cabinet also lay in the grave. Together with the beads, it must have been a rich person that was cremated here. She is therefore called the Princess of Leesten.