July 12, 2024
Beads And Bangles Illuminate Ancient Trade
Beads And Bangles Illuminate Ancient Trade
Research Scientist Laure Dussubieux and collaborators have produced four recent studies based on collaborative work in the Elemental Analysis Facility.
- An article in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (whose authors include former FM curator Chap Kusimba) attempts to source carnelian beads—including those depicted at right—found at three different sites located on the eastern coast of Africa using LA-ICP-MS. The results indicate the beads came primarily from the regions of Gujarat and Maharashtra in modern India. The diverse sources and different patterns of beads at the three sites illustrate the complex economic and social networks that linked communities in East Africa and South Asia.
- An NSF-supported study co-authored with Maria Wade (University of Texas at Austin) in Open Access Journal of Archaeology and Anthropology details the analysis of glass found at Iron Age and Roman sites in north Portugal, which had been understudied from a glass perspective. The compositional differences reflect the chronological diversity of the sites. Glass patterns suggest a common exchange network for the sites, all but one of which are located within a 25 km radius.
- An article in Antiquity led by Research Associate Heather Walder (University of Wisconsin – La Crosse), and Alicia Hawkins (U-Toronto –Mississauga), investigates what beads reveal about interregional exchange systems in the Great Lakes ca. AD 1600–1670. Wendat/ Wyandot confederacy members moved toward the Western Great Lakes after AD 1650, some 20 years before Europeans arrived. Chemical analysis of over 1,000 European-made glass beads revealed some beads dating to before 1650, indicating that Wendat people independently traded beads with the region’s existing inhabitants, e.g., the Anishinaabe and other First Nations. This is strong evidence for Indigenous agency, and expands knowledge of early trans-Atlantic exchange networks.
- And in Archaeological Science: Reports, co-authored with researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar and Banaras Hindu University, comes a study of the compositions of glass bangles from Sarethi, Uttar Pradesh (as seen at right). LA-ICP-MS analysis indicated that the most abundant glass type at the site was the poorly documented m-Na-Al 8 glass. It was not possible to say where this glass was manufactured, but the bangles might have been produced locally for local consumption. Comparison with the Kopia site, located 70 km away, indicates distinct glass patterns, suggesting their inclusion in different exchange networks despite their contemporaneity and proximity, thus adding insight into the organization of the ancient Indian glass industry at a more regional scale.
July 12. 2024
