| In 1950, five years after Brigadier Sir Robert Eric | | | | weapons and many other such artifacts |
| Mortimer Wheeler married (for the third time) | | | | unearthed at Mohenjo Daro. Today it is a private |
| Margaret Norfolk, he gifted his wife a unique | | | | possession of a family in Simla. |
| seven-stranded bronze-metal necklace of great | | | | What is unique about this necklace is that it is at |
| antiquity. The couple was on a visit to Simla then. | | | | least 4500 years old, Mortimer Wheeler having |
| This being the beautiful hill-station in North India | | | | discovered it in an earthen pot in the REM 1 |
| where they had been married five years ago. | | | | "granary" area of the Mohenjo Daro excavation |
| Margaret proudly showed the necklace to a close | | | | site of the Indus Valley Civilization, now in |
| Indian lady friend explaining that Mortimer believed | | | | Pakistan. |
| the necklace would bring him luck. "Third time | | | | Interesting details about the necklace |
| lucky!" was what Mortimer had said when he gave | | | | The ancient city of Mohenjo-daro was built around |
| her the necklace referring to his two earlier | | | | 2600 BCE and believed to have been abandoned |
| marriages to Tessa who died in 1936, and Mavis | | | | around 1900 BCE. Even by modest estimation the |
| de Vere Cole, whom he had divorced in 1942 for | | | | age of the necklace would be over 3900 years |
| cheating on him. Later in 1954, Mavis also served | | | | old, but according to Mortimer more likely to be |
| a prison sentence, having attained notoriety for | | | | about 4500 years old, based on the pottery |
| shooting Lord Vivian in the abdomen with a | | | | fragments and the level of the dig-site it was |
| revolver. | | | | discovered from. This places it among the oldest |
| Two years later in 1952, after Mortimer was | | | | necklaces in the world. The necklace has an |
| knighted, Margaret (for reasons not known) gifted | | | | S-shaped clasp with seven strands, each over 4ft |
| the necklace to her Indian lady friend. The Indian | | | | long, of bronze-metal bead-like nuggets connecting |
| lady believed Margaret nursed a superstition that | | | | each arm of the "S" in filigree. Each bead is less |
| the artifact should not leave the subcontinent. "It | | | | than the size of a pepper-seed and has many |
| has been lucky for both him and Leslie. I think it | | | | facets. Each strand has between 220 to 230 |
| has served its purpose," was all that Margaret | | | | nuggets and there are about 1600 nuggets in |
| explained. Leslie Alcock was Mortimer's assistant | | | | total. The necklace weighs about 250 gms. An |
| at the Mohenjo Daro excavation site | | | | article about this necklace was reported in The |
| (Moen-jo-daro being Sindhi for "the mound of the | | | | Hindu newspaper in India, dated January 13, 1996. |
| dead") when the necklace was discovered. | | | | In 2002, a price of 80,000 British pounds was |
| Had Mortimer declared this discovery, the | | | | offered for the necklace by a private UK |
| necklace should have been the property of the | | | | collector. Since its ownership had so far not been |
| Archaeological Department of Pakistan along with | | | | claimed by Pakistan, he had hoped to purchase |
| the figures of the Dancing Girl and the King Priest | | | | the antique necklace for his personal collection, but |
| (Brahmana priest), pottery, toys, seals, tools, | | | | the old Indian lady refused to part with it. |