Our return to an informal blog format has brought us
to the letter “b”. This week’s focus is
on beads, their impact on culture and their significance in the archaeological
record. Most people immediately associate beads as an object for personal
adornment, but beads also have traditionally been associated with power and
significance within society. The mere
definition of bead is an indicator of its role in society. The English word
‘bead’ is sourced to the Old English word biddan
which means to pray and immediately leads to the significance of beads in religious
practices. Beads recovered in archaeological excavations range from natural
materials such as bone, shell and stone to elaborately ornate glass beads.
Their recovery provides an invaluable instrument for archaeologists in
examining both their cultural significance and the dating of archaeological
contexts.
assortment of bone and shell beads
catlinite beads
The earliest reported beads are from a rockshelter
site in Lebanon, Ksar Akil , where beads have played a significant role in dating the arrival of modern
humans in the Middle East. Radiocarbon
dating of twenty perforated marine shells indicates that the beads are between
41,000-35,000 years old. The perforated shells of a small marine snail were
found in association with the skeleton of a young Homo sapien female during
excavations at the rockshelter in 1937-38. A large valve shell, similar in form
to a clam shell was not perforated, but its surface was covered with a bright
red pigmentation. This radiocarbon date
is slightly more recent than some other European remains which range from
45,000 to 38,000 years ago. Archaeologists continue to exam recovered remains
and radiocarbon dates in our efforts to understand trade relations and early
migration routes of modern humans.
The cultural significance of beads as an indicator
of status can be traced in part to the social organization of early hunting and
gathering bands. . These groups were
generally small (less than 25 men women and children) but their size changed
depending on available food resources. During the dry season, when animals
congregated in large herds, hunting and gathering bands would also join
together in cooperative groups to exploit these herds. Rituals that developed
during these hunts served to reinforce cohesive relationships and solidified
the complexity of social order necessitated by increased populations. Social
organization and the development of hierarchical societies can be traced
through paintings, beginning with cave art in Europe and in burial practices.
Research and analysis into the placement and quantities of beads in burial
units provides evidence of the significance placed on beads by various
cultures.
Barry C. Kent’s publication Susquehanna’s Indians established the framework for understanding
the culture sequence of the Lower Susquehanna River Valley, much of it based on
the glass bead trade network. Kent also
examined bone, shell and stone materials utilized in bead manufacture at sites
dating as early as the late 1500’s. Bone
and ground stone beads are virtually non-existent by the mid-Sixteenth century,
replaced by European glass trade beads. Shell
beads continue to appear in measurable quantities on these sites and colonial
records provide evidence of the monetary exchange of wampum between colonists
and Indians. Kent offers that “the colonial manufacture of wampum had become,
by the second half of the 17th century, fairly large.” Wampum beads were an important commodity to
Indian cultures and demonstrates the significant value placed on the shell
bead.
wampum trade beads
Recent research by Duane Esarey of the marine shell
trade provides new insights into the expansive Dutch trade network. The manufacture of wampum beads by coastal
Indians in New Netherland dates to between 1605-1610 with beads recognized as
being small and relatively uniform in shape. New Netherland is defined as the Dutch
colonial province from Delaware to Connecticut. The introduction of metal tools to native
groups facilitated increased production of wampum by coastal tribes. Inland groups who did not have ready access
to coastal shell, soon found wampum available through the Dutch fur trade
network. By 1650 large quantities of wampum and other bead forms appear and
concerns were raised over the devaluation of wampum in the trade process. Esarey examined the distribution of
standardized marine shell (SMS) collections throughout the Middle Atlantic
region and observed standardized designs across sites with various cultural
affiliations. Archaeologists had
previously attributed these designs to native peoples exclusively, but his
research proposes a commercial effort between the European markets focused on
the value of shell objects to tribes.
shell necklace
The fur trade also brought glass beads to native
peoples and it is this bead form that has developed into as Kent states “our
most important class of trade objects for dating historic-period Indian sites.”
Archaeologists have developed a trade bead chronology based on excavations over
the past 40 plus years and is a research tool that continues to update the
temporal ordering of bead types. Kent
developed a bead sequence chronology for the Susquehannock sites based on his
examination of over “one hundred ten thousand beads derived from 13 sites
covering a time span from about 1575 to 1760 A.D.” Kidd & Kidd’s 1970 publication
“Classification System for Glass Beads” provided a standard by which Kent was able
to create a bead sequence which established the framework for archaeologists to
continue to update and refine site dates. The volume of glass beads recovered
archaeologically is clearly an indicator as to their “value” not only for the
native peoples who traded for them, but also to the Europeans who were
producing them.
bead chronology developed by Kent
The
anthropological focus on glass beads examines the placement of beads within
burials, examining quantities, placement, color and multiple other factors in
order to try to understand the symbolism placed upon beads by Indians. We can’t fully define the significance of
beads to native groups in the 17th and 18th century, but
the inherent value placed upon beads for thousands of years is apparent. The beadwork traditions carried out by native
groups today are coveted and treasured not only for their beauty, but for their
continuation of cultural traditions.
beaded moccasins
The concept that such a small object can mean so
much to so many is inconceivable, and yet the archaeological record has
demonstrated this concept across cultures, time periods and continents. We hope
that you have enjoyed this prevue into beads and it will encourage you to think
about the function this object has assumed for thousands of years and will
presumably continue to hold for many thousands to come.
small glass seed bead
watch a video of
glass bead manufacturing
References
Dubin, Lois Sherr
The History of Beads: from 30,000 B.C. to the
Present, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, 1987.
Esarey, Duane
Another Kind of Beads: A Forgotten Industry of the
North American Colonial Period. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of
Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2013.
Kent, Barry C.
Susquehanna’s Indians, Anthropological Series,
Number 6, Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission,
Harrisburg,1993.
Kidd, Kenneth E. and Martha Ann Kidd
A Classification system for glass beads for the use
of field archaeologists. Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional papers in
Archaeology and History 1:45-89. National Historic Sites Service, National and
Historic Park Branch, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development,
1970.
Smith, Julian
An Examination of Historic Trade, American
Archaeology, Vol.18, No.1, Spring 2014.
