Chippewa Beads from an Archaeological Excavation
A discussion and illustrations of wampum shell beads and glass trade beads from a mid-19th century Chippewa habitation site (20MD534) in
Michigan.
Jamestown Beads
Information and links for glass research. Excellent definitions of glass terminology and technology in an article entitled: "More Than
'A Few Blew Beads': The Glass and Stone Beads from Jamestown Rediscovery's 1994-1997 Excavations" by Heather A. Lapham.
Norse Glass Bead Necklace
A discussion of Norse glass beads from Scandinavian archaeological contexts.
Seed Beads in the Northwest, Canada, late 18th to early 19th centuries
A brief discussion of the seed beads recovered from Fort George (1792-1800), Rocky Mountain House (1799-1821), and the Boyer Post and
Aspen House sites (1788-1802) and how they relate to re-enactors' need for accurate information.
Uluburun Bronze Age
Shipwreck
A ca. 1300 BCE shipwreck carrying thousands glass (including Mycenaean relief), agate, carnelian, quartz, faience, ostrich eggshell, and
amber (Mycenaean) beads. Among others artifacts are the earliest known intact ingots of glass; some 175 discoidal ingots in cobalt
blue, turquoise, and a unique lavender. These ingots are likely the materials mentioned in tablets from Ras Shamra/Ugarit and Amarna as
items traded from the Syro-Palestinian coast. For a more thorough discussion of the faience and glass beads, see Ingram 2005.
Viking Beads
A discussion of beads of the Viking Age by the Viking Answer Lady.
Viking Beads from Gotland,
Sweden, by Dan Carlsson.
A report of Viking Beads from the Port of Trade at Frojel, Gotland, Sweden. The report is 12 pages long, well illustrated with detailed
pictures of different kinds of beads. There is also a short description about how beads were made in Viking Age. The report is written
by Associate Professor Dan Carlsson, Gotland University, Sweden. This link takes you to Lulu.com and there is a nominal charge of $3 for
the report.
For more on Viking-era beads, see also "Norse Glass Bead Necklace" above.
Beadwork Links
Zulu Beadwork
A review and brief history of Zulu beadwork, providing a lexicon of Native beads and beadwork.
Organizations
Bead Collector Network
An on-line collectible bead discussion forum contributed to and used by collectors and researchers all over the world and offering
links to various articles and web sites discussing the history of beads.
Bead Database
The Global Interactive Bead Database is a global community maintaining an online bead database with links to research news, in-depth
articles, references, glossary, etc.
Bead Museum, The (Glendale, Arizona)
The purpose of The Bead Museum is to collect and preserve, identify, document and display beads and ornaments used in personal adornment
from ancient, ethnic and contemporary cultures, covering all periods of history. Its goals are to educate the public, promote and publish
research in these areas and to act as a permanent repository for beads and ornaments and related books and publications. A reference
library and bead study collection are available by appointment. Excellent online source for bead publications.
Bead Museum Washington D.C., The
Regrettably, The Bead Museum in Washington DC had to close its doors at the end of 2008. They are currently working on finding a permanent
home for the Bead Timeline. This link will take you to their website where more information is available.
Bead Society of Great Britain
Due to the great number of bead societies, most are generally not included in these links (yet.) The Bead Society of Great Britain is
included here because its quarterly newsletter is simply the best bead society newsletter on the planet. The BSGB is open to all those
who have an appreciation, either private or professional, of beads ancient and modern, of all shapes, sizes, materials and colours,
their techniques of manufacture, and their application. Members receive four issues per year of the Bead Society
Newsletter, a colourful and informative journal packed with articles (Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter editions).
Bead Study Trust, The
The Bead Study Trust was founded in 1980 to promote research and the use of archaeological, ethnographic and scientific techniques on beads,
past and present, from all parts of the world. The Bead Study Trust puts out a newsletter The Bead Study Trust Newsletter, and gives out the
Guido Grants.
Center for the Study of Beadwork
Alice Scherer, Founder of the CSB, maintains a site devoted to the study of beadwork. Currently the site offers publications for sale,
including back issues of Ornament Magazine and The Bead Journal (not to be confused with the Journal BEADS), slide
kits of its past exhibitions, and back issues of its quarterly newsletter notes from a Beadworker's Journal, which ran from the
late '80s through the late '90s. Funds raised due to sales on the CSB's website pay for the director's research efforts which currently
include a study of Pacific Northwest indigenous beading traditions of the 19th- and early 20th centuries. Additionally the site includes
the original fundraising efforts to enable the move of the late Peter Francis Jr.'s material from Lake Placid, New York to the Bead Museum
in Glendale, Arizona, and includes testimonials to Peter and an accounting of his work.
Corning Museum of Glass
Information and links for glass research. Excellent definitions of glass terminology and technology. Additionally, you may search on the
collection by clicking on "Glass Collection" and typing in a search term.
NativeWeb
NativeWeb posts numerous pages discussing beads and pendants, bead weaving techniques, wampum, and an introduction to the use of glass
beads among Native Americans of the northeastern United States.
van der Sleen Bead Collection
The Allard Pierson Museum, University of Amsterdam, houses the bead collection of approximately 20,000 beads collected by Dr. W.G. N.
van der Sleen (1886-1967), a chemist with an interest in beads for historical research. He is best known for his 1967 work, A Handbook
on Beads, Musée du Verre, Liège, Belgium, reprinted in 1973 by Liberty Cap Books, York, PA.
Research Tools
Electronic Scanning: An Alternative to Photographing Glass Beads, by Andy Towle and Martin Ashton
Discussion of the advantages of scanning glass beads (and other small archaeological artifacts) as an effective, inexpensive, rapid,
and simple alternative to conventional photography. Digital color scans of beads are shown to provide excellent quality and evenly-
lit images. For quick color images, this techniques has value. However, depending on the scanner used, images tend to have a soft
focus, shadows, and a flat appearance. This technique is not the best for publication quality imagery. For creating quick images for
inventory and comparative purposes, scanning does provide adequate excellent results.
Making of America
This site is amazingly cool. It's mind-boggling the stuff you find here in this site of online scanned text of historical works provided
by the University of Michigan, including:
