Science and Technology Studies Commons^™

Heirloom Blue-Glass Melon Beads Of The Tani Tribes, Northeast India, Barbie Campbell Cole

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

The Tani tribes of Arunachal Pradesh in India's remote northeast wear various heirloom necklaces including those composed of highly distinctive melon-shaped beads of wound turquoise-blue glass. These are unique to central Arunachal and were already of considerable age and very highly prized in the early 19th century. The Tanis believe their beads were made by a mythical ancestor in Tibet, but their bubbly opaque blue glass and wound method of production suggest a Chinese origin. The beads have local names which appear to link them to Tsari, one of Tibet's most important Buddhist pilgrimage sites. For centuries, the hostile animist …

Captions And Color Plates (V. 24, 2012)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

In Memoriam: Roderick Sprague, 1933-2012, Karlis Karklins

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

An archaeologist, educator, and a pioneer in North American trade bead research, Dr. Roderick Sprague passed away in Moscow, Idaho, on 20 August 2012. A staunch supporter of the Society of Bead Researchers, he served as its president from 2004 to 2007, and chaired the Editorial Advisory Committee for a good number of years as well. He also contributed a number of useful articles, news items, and reviews to both the Society's publications. His moral support and the useful comments and suggestions he made concerning these publications will be sorely missed.

Beads: Journal Of The Society Of Bead Researchers - Volume 24 (Complete)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents (V. 23, 2011)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Reviews And End Matter

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

Ukrainski narodni prykrasy z biseru (Ukrainian Folk Beaded Adornments), by Olena Fedorchuk (2007), reviewed by Maria M. Rypan

Table Of Contents (V. 22, 2010)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Bauxite Mining And Bead Production In Ghana, John Haigh

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

Abompe is the current bauxite beadmaking site in Ghana and the hills of the Kwahu Plateau above the village are pocked with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pits dug in search of the raw material. To determine the age of the beadmaking industry in the region, people in Abompe and other villages were interviewed and related stories that suggest the first beadmakers were following the example of people in or around Bepong, a village on the plateau above Abompe. Three areas of bauxite pits on the Kwahu Plateau were investigated to see if there was physical evidence of ancient mining; those …

Front Matter

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Beads: Journal Of The Society Of Bead Researchers - Volume 22 (Complete)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Captions And Color Plates (V. 22, 2010)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Sixteenth-Century Glass Beads From Chotuna, North Coast Of Peru, Christopher B. Donnan, Jill Silton

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

Burials excavated on the north coast of Peru were associated with 16th-century European glass beads as well as shell and stone specimens of local manufacture. The beads were strung as necklaces, bracelets, and anklets, often combining several varieties of European beads with local products. The glass beads as well as the other grave goods suggest that the burials date to the first part of the 16th century, probably between 1530 and 1560.

The Beads That Did Not Buy Manhattan Island, Peter Francis Jr.

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

The purchase of Manhattan Island is an unrecorded event dressed in mystery and myth. An examination of the myth and of its history corrects misconceptions that are nearly as ancient as the purchase.

Venetian Glass Beads And The Slave Trade From Liverpool, 1750-1800, Saul Guerrero

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

The competition within the slave trade during the 18th century forced slave traders to search for an assortment of barter cargo that would attract the preferential attention of the African suppliers of slaves. An enterprising group of Liverpool slave traders that formed William Davenport & Co. rose to the occasion and in three years became the supplier of half of all the glass beads re-exported to Africa from England. An analysis of barter values in Bonny, West Africa, reveals that glass beads were one of the main categories of trade goods of great interest to the African slave traders. The …

Lucayan Beads From San Salvador, Bahamas (Ca. A.D. 900-1500), Jeffrey P. Blick, Richard Kim, Tyler G. Hill

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

A variety of Lucayan shell, stone, and coral beads as well as beadmaking waste was recovered from several sites on San Salvador, Bahamas. Following detailed analysis, comparisons to other beadmaking sites in the Greater Caribbean region indicate that fabrication, material, color preference, and even general forms are similar across great distances from the Maya region to the Greater and Lesser Antilles and the Bahamian Archipelago. In some cases, beads appear to have been made at the household level (Middle Pre-Classic Maya, Post Saladoid Lucayans), although certain stratified societies (later Maya, Classic Taíno) seem to have exerted more control or monopoly …

Front Matter

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents (V. 21, 2009)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Twenty Years Of The Bead Forum: Newsletter Of The Society Of Bead Researchers (1982-2002)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

Compiled by Karlis Karklins

The Bead Forum: Newsletter of the Society of Bead Researchers was initiated in 1982 by Peter Francis, Jr., to facilitate communication between bead researchers. Over the years it has provided news about the society, announcements of relevant exhibitions, conferences, and recent publications, requests for information, memorials, and short articles and news items on various aspects of bead research. The two latter contain much useful information that is, unfortunately, not readily available to many researchers who do not own the set or have forgotten what is in the earlier issues. Furthermore, few libraries and museums have full …

Reviews And End Matter

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

African Beads: Jewels of a Continent, by Evelyn Simak and Carl Dreibelbis (2010), reviewed by Ato Hansemo Hamela

Beads: Journal Of The Society Of Bead Researchers - Volume 21 (Complete)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Captions And Color Plates (V. 21, 2009)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents (V. 20, 2008)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents (V. 19, 2007)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Chemical Composition Of Late 18th- And 19th-Century Glass Beads From Western North America: Clues To Sourcing Beads, Laurie E. Burgess, Laure Dussubieux

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

The Sullivans Island glass bead collection at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History contains over 56,000 beads which date from the late 18th to the late 19th century. Excavated in the 1930s from a site on the Columbia River in the Plateau region of North America, this collection contains examples of most known bead varieties for this time period. Many of the beads conform to varieties that have been attributed to Bohemia, Venice, and China-three of the main bead-producing centers for this time period. One hundred and twenty-four beads were subjected to Laser-Ablation Inductively-Coupled Mass-Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analysis at the …

In Memoriam: Mary Elizabeth Good, 1930-2007, Marvin T. Smith

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

Bead researcher Mary Elizabeth Good died December 18, 2007. A native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, she was 77 years old. Mary Elizabeth was well-known and respected as an early researcher of trade beads in North America. Her first publication, "Guebert Site: An 18th century Historic Kaskaskia Indian Village in Randolph County, Illinois" (1972), is considered a classic in bead studies. Mary Elizabeth was active in the Society of Bead Researchers, serving as Chair of the Publications Committee from 1989 to 1993, and as President of the Society from 1994 to 1996. The bead community has lost an important member.

An Archaeological Approach To Understanding The Meaning Of Beads Using The Example Of Korean National Treasure 634, A Bead From A 5th/6th-Century Royal Silla Tomb, James W. Lankton, Marjorie Bernbaum

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

An ancient bead is a document from the past—a message in a bottle—written in some lost symbolic language. Archaeologists try to understand that language by integrating scientific and technological approaches with the social, economic, political, and symbolic/ religious context in which the bead was found. As an example, we use Korean National Treasure 634 (NT634), a dark blue glass bead adorned with mosaic decorations of a bird, a flowering tree, and a human face, found in a 5th-6th century Korean tomb. This bead suggests its meaning by how and where it was made, and what its images may represent.

Western Indian (Mewar) Chalcolithic Beads With Special Reference To Balathal, Alok Kumar Kanungo, Virendra Nath Misra, Vasant Shinde

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

During the last few years, Indian archaeologists have concentrated their efforts on the investigation of sites of the 3rd to 2nd millennia B.C. in the Mewar region of western India. Unfortunately, most of the excavations have been focused on understanding the cultural sequence, settlement patterns, architecture, and pottery at the sites and have neglected the study of such important artifact categories as beads. As no final reports have been published and the excavations have been carried out by different agencies, reconstructing the bead culture of this area is very difficult. We know quite a bit about the beads of the …

Captions And Color Plates (V. 19, 2007)

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers

No abstract provided.