Adderbeads

Adder-beads, called also Serpent stones and Druidical beads, large beads of glass or vitreous paste, and amber, occurring, usually singly, in prehistoric British sepulchral cists or urns. This fact would seem to show that they were not regarded as personal ornaments, but rather as amulets, and as such were deposited with the ashes of the dead. The source whence these beads were derived has long been a subject of dispute, but they probably came from the South or South-east of Europe. The same folk-lore has grown up concerning these as is prevalent with regard to Snakestones (q.v.).