A two-faced treasure that's enough to make you scream unearthed by Thames mudlarker

A TINY carved rosary bead found in the Thames mud is among a record number of historic finds made by mudlarks and metal detectorists.

- Robert Dex

The bone artefact is thought to be a memento mori, used to remind the wearer of their mortality, and shows a skull on one side and the face of a young woman on the other.

Caroline Nunneley, who found it in the summer of 2021, said she first noticed the skull sticking out of the mud on the foreshore of the river in the City of London while she was on her knees looking for finds.

She said: "I handed her to my friend and said 'hey look at this' without really holding her or paying attention to her.

"He screamed and ran away with her, to be funny because he likes skulls, and then came back and we turned it around and realised it had another face."