Glass beads, both beautiful and portable, have been produced and traded globally for thousands of years. Modern archaeologists study these artifacts through sophisticated methods that analyze the glass composition, a process which can be utilized to trace bead usage through time and across regions. This book publishes open-access compositional data obtained from laser ablation – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry, from a single analytical laboratory, providing a uniquely comparative data set. The geographic range includes studies of beads produced in Europe and traded widely across North America and beads from South and Southeast Asia traded around the Indian Ocean and beyond. The contributors provide new insight on the timing of interregional interactions, technologies of bead production and patterns of trade and exchange, using glass beads as a window to the past. This volume will be a key reference for glass researchers, archaeologists, and any scholars interested in material culture and exchange; it provides a wide range of case studies in the investigation and interpretation of glass bead composition, production and exchange since ancient times.

Corroded pieces of metal, stamped lumps of copper, broken bits of glass with partial inscriptions, fragments of textiles, tiny beads-these were the raw material found at al-Fustat, the site of the first Muslim settlement in Egypt in the seventh century and the heart of Cairo for many centuries following. From the 1950s Dr. Henri Amin Awad accepted from the poor in this area objects that had no obvious market value in return for medical services rendered. Over the years he built up an extraordinary and important collection of artifacts. Carefully cleaned, sorted, and then analyzed by specialists, this material illuminates many areas of the archaeological record neglected or missing from other studies. The ten studies in this volume-covering beads, bone, coins, glass weights and vessel stamps, medical instruments, medical prescriptions, metal objects, and textiles-demonstrate the wide range of archaeological material once found in al-Fustat, a site no longer accessible since most of it has been buried under urban development or lost to a rising water table. Contributors: Ibrahim Abd al-Rahman, Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Tawwab, Henri Amin Awad, Jere L. Bacharach, Michael L. Bates, Lidia Domaszewicz, Katharina Eldada, Peter Francis, Jr., Sami K. Hamarneh, Nancy Arthur Hoskins, Peter Mentzel, Norman D. Nicol, Elizabeth Rodenbeck, W. Luke Treadwell

This uniquely designed book and kit with a detachable plexiglass spine contains nearly 2,000 colorful beads and instructions to make a variety of jewelry items while learning about African culture. 100 illustrations.

This fascinating study is the first detailed description of the ancient and enduring trade in beads that spans more than two millennia and once stretched from the Middle East to East Asia and affected areas as far apart as West Africa and the American Pacific coast. Beads are universal and among the earliest art forms. Made of glass, semiprecious stone, or precious organic materials such as amber and coral, they were ubiquitous in the ancient world, serving as decorations, magical charms, mnemonic and counting devices, symbols of wealth and status. Much of the ancient bead trade was incorporated in Asian maritime commerce, and many of the beads involved have Asian origins. Peter Francis, Jr., a pioneer in bead studies, incorporates firsthand knowledge of beads and beadmaking in the field with years of solid, scholarly research, effectively eliminating much of the hearsay and speculation that so often characterizes works on beads. In addition to the production, use, and provenance of beads, he examines the importance of the bead trade for the economies of the countries involved and provides insights into the lives of its many participants: artisans, mariners, and merchants. He covers the widely-dispersed Indo-Pacific beads (sometimes called Trade Wind beads or mutisalah), Chinese glass beads, Middle Eastern glass beads, Indian stone beads, heirloom beads in Southeast Asia and Micronesia, and other minor beads and bead industries involved in the trade.