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Reviews And End Matter

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

The Art of Beadwork: Historic Inspiration, Contemporary Design, by Valerie Hector (2005), reviewed by Alice Scherer

Beads of Borneo, by Heidi Munan (2005), reviewed by Hwei-Fe'n Cheah.

Beads: Journal Of The Society Of Bead Researchers - Volume 18 (Complete)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents (V. 18, 2006)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Classification And Nomenclature Of Beads And Pendants, Horace C. Beck

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

The year 2006 marks the 80th anniversary of the presentation of a "Classification and Nomenclature of Beads and Pendants" by Horace C. Beck to the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1926. It was subsequently published in the society's journal Archaeologia in 1928 (vol. 77, pp. 1-76). While it is somewhat out of date, it nevertheless remains a classic in its field and is still the only comprehensive work that deals with the classification of beads of complex shapes and forms. Seeing the value of this work, George Shumway reprinted it in 1973. This edition is now out of print. …

Captions And Color Plates (V. 18, 2006)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Necklaces Used In The Santería Of Cuba, Lourdes S. Domínguez

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

This article examines the necklaces used in the Afro-Cuban Rule of Orisha, more commonly known as Santería. This religion, created by African slaves brought to Cuba starting in the 16th century, combines aspects of Yoruba orisha worship and Spanish Catholicism. It allowed African religious beliefs and practices to survive despite the imposition of Catholic doctrine. One of the outcomes of this amalgamation is the practice of associating individual orishas (deities) with certain Catholic saints. Each orisha is represented by specific necklaces that incorporate particular bead forms, colors, and numbers.

Elemental Analyses Of North American Glass Trade Beads, R. G.V. Hancock

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

Although European-made glass trade beads can be sorted into bead varieties and studied in that manner on the basis of physical attributes, much more information can be obtained about them by means of chemical analysis. Such analyses produce chemical fingerprints that may be compared and grouped. Bead varieties that have matching chemistries were made using the same ingredients that probably came from the same sources, suggesting that they were made in a specific manufacturing center and probably during the same approximate time period. Using this information may help to establish with which European nationals specific indigenous people were dealing and …

Die Perle: A 1920s German Trade Journal, Anita Von Kahler Gumpert, Karlis Karklins

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

Though short lived, the German trade journal, Die Perle, contains a wealth of information concerning the European bead and jewelry industry of the 1920s. Short articles provide insight into new machinery and apparatus for producing beads, natural and artificial materials for the production of beads and other ornaments, fashion trends, market reports, and numerous other topics. As well, there are several departments which deal with specific themes such as technical questions and sources of supplies. As the journals are in German, English summaries are provided for a representative sample of the articles to give the reader an idea of their …

Beads: Journal Of The Society Of Bead Researchers - Volume 17 (Complete)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents (V. 17, 2005)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Thirteen-Hundred-Year-Old Bead Adornments From Baar, Canton Zug, Switzerland, Katharina Müller

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

In the year 2000, an Early Medieval (7th-century) cemetery containing more than 200 burials with rich grave goods was discovered in Baar, Canton Zug, Switzerland. Thanks to the painstaking methods used in the excavation and recording of the 2,985 glass, amber, coral, and amethyst beads found with the female burials, it was possible to reconstruct the necklaces and sewn-on appliqués they were part of. Comparisons with mosaic depictions of famous women—such as the Empress Theodora in San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy—suggest that the people of Baar imitated southern Alpine Byzantine bead jewelry fashion.

Reviews And End Matter

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

Ornaments from the Past: Bead Studies after Beck, Ian C. Glover , Helen Hughes Brock, and Julian Henderson (eds.) (2003), reviewed by Joan Eppen.

Late 19th- And Early 20th-Century Manufacture Of Drawn Glass Tubing For Glass Beads, Lester A. Ross

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

Late 19th- and early 20th-century archaeological sites often contain machine-made drawn glass beads with unique shapes and perforations. Little information exists documenting when these beads were initially manufactured. Through an examination of hundreds of U.S. patents, it appears that the mechanized production of drawn beads could have occurred as early as the late 19th-century, but more likely, they were not mass produced until the end of World War I, after the invention of the Danner process for mechanically drawing glass tubing. Machine-made drawn beads with multiple sides and/or shaped perforations also appear to have been produced by the late-19th century, …

Captions And Color Plates (V. 17, 2005)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Ghana's Vanishing Past: Development, Antiquities, And The Destruction Of The Archaeological Record, Benjamin W. Kankpeyeng, Christopher R. Decorse

Anthropology - All Scholarship

Ghana's past is being destroyed at a rapid rate. Although the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board has in some instances successfully intervened to stop the illicit trading of antiquities, the destruction of archaeological sites as a consequence of development over the past two decades has been staggering and the pace is accelerating. The potential of the legislation that established the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board and empowered it to manage and preserve the country's archaeological past has not been realized. The lack of political action, limited relevant public education, insufficient funding, and the poverty of the majority of the Ghanaian …

Precious Red Coral: Markets And Meanings, Susan J. Torntore

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

Beads and other ornamental items made of precious red coral have been utilized by various cultures worldwide for thousands of years. Depending on its properties and market context, this highly valued material has meant different things to different peoples through time. The current industry—based in Torre del Greco in southern Italy—reflects past traditions but also incorporates new ideas into the production of beads and jewelry for the three principal world markets: fashion, ethnic, and tourist. These reflect the historic trade and use of red coral beads in several West African, European, and American cultural settings. This article describes the Torrese …

Incised Dentalium Shell Beads In The Plateau Culture Area, Roderick Sprague

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

Whole dentalium and segments of dentalium shell have been used as beads in the Northwest Coast and interior Plateau culture areas both prehistorically and ethnographically. Incised whole shells, and no more than five known examples of incised segments, have been recovered from the Plateau, limited to archaeological contexts. A review of the reported incising clearly shows the use of design elements typical of the Plateau Culture Area as often also used on bone, antler, wood, and historic copper in addition to dentalium. The Asotin site (45-AS-9), one of the few well-dated Plateau burial sites with incised beads indicates that this …

Beads: Journal Of The Society Of Bead Researchers - Volume 16 (Complete)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Bead Making At Murano And Venice, B. Harvey Carroll Jr., Jamey D. Allen

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

"Bead Making at Murano and Venice," by B. Harvey Carroll, Jr., is a rare eyewitness account of beadmaking in and around Venice, Italy, towards the end of the First World War and documents the technology of the time as well as what impact the war had on the industry. Carroll's report takes us through the various steps in the production of drawn or tube beads and also provides a historical perspective of the industry. Although the report presents much useful information, we now know much more about most aspects of glass beadmaking and endnotes provide much additional information and clarification.

Front Matter

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Reviews And End Matter (V. 16, 2004)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

Gem and Ornamental Materials of Organic Origin, by Maggie Campbell Pedersen (2004), reviewed by Stefany Tomalin

World on a String: Parts One, Two, and Three, by Diana Friedberg and Lionel Friedberg (2004-2005), reviewed by Lois Rose Rose

Beads of Life: Eastern and Southern African Beadwork from Canadian Collections, by Marie-Louise Labelle (2005), reviewed by Margret Carey.

Table Of Contents (V. 16, 2004)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

The Levin Catalogue Of Mid-19th-Century Beads, Karlis Karklins

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

The Levin Catalogue is composed of two similar collections of glass and stone beads assembled by Moses Lewin Levin, a London bead merchant whose business operated from 1830 to 1913. A total of 621 beads of 128 different varieties makes up the collections which can be dated to the period 1851-1869. Although the beads are recorded as having been used in the African trade, several have counterparts at North American sites, thereby making the catalogue a potentially valuable research tool for those involved in the study of North American trade beads as well.

Captions And Color Plates

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Low-Fired Earthenwares In The African Diaspora: Problems And Prospects, Mark W. Hauser, Christopher R. Decorse

Anthropology - All Scholarship

Local earthenware associated with enslaved African populations in the Americas, variously called “Colono-Ware,” “Afro-CaribbeanWare.” “Yabbas,” and “Criollo ware,” has received considerable attention from researchers. What unifies this disparate group of ceramics is not method of manufacture, design and decoration, or even form and function but the association or potential association with African diaspora populations. The ceramics incorporate some skills and techniques possibly brought by African potters to the Americas, as well as skills reflecting European and Native American traditions, and local adaptations in form, function, and manufacture.Analogies linking African ceramic traditions to American industries have at times been employed uncritically …

Beads In The Straits Settlements: Trade And Domestic Demand, 1827-1937, Hwei-Fe'n Cheah

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

Beads have long been a part of the exchange of goods in Southeast. Indo-Pacific beads were traded in Southeast Asia and colored beads from China were exchanged for spices and forest products from the Indonesian archipelago. The Straits Settlements, comprising the ports of Singapore, Malacca, and Penang, was formed in 1826, to consolidate the trading position of the British in Southeast Asia. Singapore, in particular, developed into a major entrepot of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Research by the late Peter Francis, Jr., drew attention to its role as a channel for a part of the Southeast Asian bead …

Table Of Contents (V. 15, 2003)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Two Centuries Of Iroquois Beadwork, Dolores N. Elliott

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

To the 16th-century Iroquois living in what is now central New York state, European glass trade beads were something special; they were believed to have had magical and spiritual meaning. To this day, the Iroquois have a special relationship with glass beads. Iroquois artists began creating three-dimensional beaded items in the late 18th century. The first beaded pincushions and wall pockets were small, but they increased in size and quantity during the 19th century. Two centers of beadwork making arose: one around Niagara Falls in western New York and southern Ontario, and the other around Montreal in southern Quebec and …