BEADS. The word bead is derived from the Saxon verb "bid dan," to pray ; originally associated with the "beads" on a ro sary, it has now been extended to mean almost any pierced object which can be strung. Their great diversity of form, portability and lasting power make beads one of the most valuable articles for tracing the influence of nation upon nation even back to the times of which no written records exist.
The earliest objects supposed to be beads are certain small fossils, Coscinopera globularis, found in numbers in graduated sizes amongst the Acheulian remains. These have natural holes through them, but in some cases the holes appear to have been enlarged by hand, and the ends show signs of wear. By the Aurignacian period there is no doubt that beads were worn in large quantities, and in the carving of the "Femme au Renne" (Laugerie-Basse, Dordogne), the woman, although other wise nude, wears a bead necklace. Amongst the beads of this period, which are made of teeth, shell, bone and ivory, is a chamois tooth with two perforations (fig. i, I) which appears to have been a spacing bead, and suggests that the necklaces with several strings separated by spacing beads, so common in the bronze age, were in use at this period. In the neolithic and later periods the wearing of beads appears to have been universal in all parts of the world. Such trouble was taken to make many of them that they were probably used more as amulets than as ornaments. In Egypt the word for them was "Sha-sha," the syllable "Sha" being the Egyptian word for luck.
(See ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA.) Discoveries at Ur show that about 350o B.c. the Mesopotamians had a more advanced culture of beads than any other country we know of at that period. Beads were made of pearl, lapis, cornelian, other stones, shell, ostrich shell and occasionally faience. Many of the stones had definite amuletic properties. Very well made bicone cornelian beads (fig. i, 2), octagonal barrel beads (fig. i, 3), and lapis melon beads (fig. I, 4), were interspersed with elaborate gold beads (fig. i, 5) and pendants, and mixed with minute carved beads some not much more than imm. in diameter with a perfora tion of imm. The etching of cornelian and chalcedony was em ployed at this period. In one method the pattern was made by etching white lines on a red background (fig. i, 6). In another the whole surface was first etched white and then dark lines re-etched on that (fig. I, 7). This process is found in the contemporary Indo-Sumerian beads from Mohenjo-Daro on the Indus (see INDIA: Archaeology), where other beads also suggest a connection between the two countries ; it is practically unknown in Egypt, but it has been later used in the Crimea and other parts of Russia.
Many of the Mesopotamian beads of various periods have ellip tical, lenticular or planoconvex transverse sections. These shapes are also found to a smaller extent in pre-dynastic Egypt but are comparatively rare there in dynastic times. Glazed quartz beads are found from an early date up to about 200o B.C. ; they are usually colourless.
(See EGYPT : Archaeology.) The earliest Egyptian beads are the Badarian which are mostly of stone. Amongst them is a large number of glazed steatite beads. The glaze used is practically glass, but glass beads are not found until much later. In the pre-dynastic period "Faience" beads appeared, and were extensively used down to recent times. They have a core consist ing of quartz fragments cemented together by heat with a small admixture of lime. This core is covered with glaze. The blue colouring matter was copper, the purple and black was manga nese. Special faience beads which appear in early dynasties reach a high state of perfection both in colour and shape during the I 2th dynasty, which marked the zenith of Egyptian beads. A typical bead was the ball amethyst, found in great numbers during the I2th dynasty but uncommon at other times. Other favourite materials were gold, green feldspar, lapis and cornelian; the last frequently cut into odd shapes such as a locust etc. (fig. i, 8). Glazed quartz beads which commence in the pre-dynastic ex tend down to the i 2th dynasty, but probably not later. They are always coloured blue or green. At Der el Bahri blue beads of the early i8th dynasty reached the finest colour, whilst at Tel el Amarna slightly later factories existed which turned out thousands of beads and pendants representing flowers, fruits, etc. (fig. i, q and io). For colour and daintiness of design these are unsurpassed. Crumb beads in which small pieces of steatite or faience are cemented on to the surface of a faience bead appear in the 5th dynasty and last to the i8th (fig. I, II). Glass came into general use in Egypt in the i8th dynasty, although earlier specimens are recorded both from Egypt and Mesopotamia. From the i gth to 22nd dynasty small oblate and cylindrical beads were made by the million to cover mummies, in some cases woven into complete covers with elaborate designs. During this period and down to the Saite period (about 600 B.c.) amuletic beads and pendants representing various emblems and deities were very common. After this date, although quantities of beads were still made in Egypt those found in the Mediterranean area became more interesting. In the Sudan and West Africa numbers of an cient beads are dug up, which are very highly prized by the natives. In some cases these may date from the Roman period.
These were almost invariably talismans. One of the earliest forms is the onyx cat's-eye bead from Mesopotamia (fig. i, 12), of which a specimen is dated 2200 B.C. The majority of eye beads, however, were made of glass. There were four chief varieties : (I) Spot eye beads, in which simple spots of one col oured glass were stuck on to, or pressed into, a matrix of another colour (fig. I, 13) ; (2) impressed eye beads in which a ring of different -coloured glass was pressed into the matrix (fig. i, 14) ; (3) stratified eye beads, in which a spot was pressed into the matrix, a second spot pressed into the first, and so on (fig. 2, I5) ; (4) inserted cane eye beads, in which pieces of a glass cane or rod with the required pattern in it were broken off and pressed into the matrix. The first and third methods are the earliest, both being used as early as 130o B.C. The second commenced in the qth century B.C. The fourth, though usually much later, is occa sionally found in the 6th century B.C. Eye beads continued to be made during Roman and Saxon times and are still manufac tured in great quantities at Hebron for protection from the evil eye.
The early beads from Crete and the Aegean islands show decided originality. The most striking novelty was the flat glass bead and pendant (fig. 2, 16) dating to about i3oo B.C. These were made of transparent glass, some colourless, some pale blue and some dark blue. The technique of their manufacture was not used in Egypt until several centuries later. The flush glass crumb bead in which pieces of glass of different colours were pressed flush into a matrix, began to appear at this period; a few centuries later it became a common type.
The Villanovans (q.v.) and Etrus cans (q.v.) from the 9th to the 6th centuries B.C. used great quantities of beads. A large proportion were of amber which was probably imported from the Baltic, glass beads were extremely common, whilst gold and bronze ones were not infrequent. Some of them are very large, scaraboids over four inches long being made of amber, and spiral beads over six inches long of bronze wire. Besides being strung as necklaces, beads were also used to ornament pins and fibulae. A gold fibula with glass leech bead is shown in fig. 2, 17.
Some of these beads found in Italian tombs appear to be defi nitely Etruscan, but many belong to a type of which quantities are found all round the eastern Mediterranean and the Black sea, in Italy, Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, Syria, Carthage and the Crimea. There is no evidence where they were made, but they were probably carried by the Phoenicians as they are found so much in Phoenician colonies.
In northern Europe during the neolithic period many amber beads and pendants were worn. Some very large ones come from Denmark. In the French Dolmens are found numbers of beads made of callais, a species of turquoise which is supposed to have been imported from China. In pre-Roman and early Roman times large numbers of beads of amber and glass were worn in Brittany. Some of these have been handed down as amulets and are still worn by the peasants who value them as talismans. Such glass beads are said to preserve the eyesight, and the amber ones to be a certain cure for stomach-ache. In some cases the perforations of the beads have almost worn through and then been filled up with metal (fig. 2, 18).
Amongst the beads from Viking graves of the 7th to the 9th century A.D. are several elaborate chequer beads (fig. 2, 19). These have not been found in graves of the same period in other parts of Europe, but a specimen has been found in a Crimean grave over 1,000 years earlier. This suggests that these Viking beads may have been handed down as amulets in the same way as the Brit tany beads.
Gold and amber beads of the bronze age are found in southern England and Ireland. The Irish amber beads are similar to the Etruscan and may come from the Mediterranean. But in England elaborate strings with large spacing beads and many small intermediate beads are found. They seem to be con fined to this country, where similar necklaces in jet occur. In the Wiltshire barrows segmented blue faience beads are found which closely resemble some made in Egypt during the i8th dynasty. Amongst the Irish gold beads are some bicone beads made from gold wire (fig. 2, 20). In Roman times the melon bead in faience (fig. 2, 21) and glass is common, whilst beads in black glass with coloured eyes (fig. 2, 22) or waves are found. The Saxon period produced great quantities of beads, mostly of glass; these, especially the Kentish ones, show a great sim ilarity to the Merovingian beads of the Rhine district, but there is evidence which suggests that some of them have been made in this country. The double wave and spot bead (fig. 2, 23) occurs in almost all Anglo-Saxon cemeteries. Large faceted crystal beads (fig. 2, 24) and crystal spheres in bronze mounts are typical of this period.
The early civilizations of North and South America produced great numbers of beads. From the Indian grave mounds of North America come beads of stone and shell, both complete shells and shaped beads cut out of large shells. In Peru, beads in turquoise and other stones are found; some of a curious shape which suggests the double axe (fig. 2, 25) ; whilst from Lake Guatavita in Colombia come quantities of beads and pendants of stone, amber and gold.
Since the middle ages the manufacture of beads for sale or barter has been carried on in Europe. Explorers have at all times found them invaluable when dealing with natives and many of the early trade beads are still greatly prized in the coun tries where they have been sold. During the 17th and i8th cen turies this trade in beads, or "conterie" as it was called, was enor mous, and warehouses along the Thames were full of them. At the present day great quantities of beads are worn by all semi-civilized races, by whom they are frequently used as money. These beads show immense variety and are of great interest, but it is impossible to discuss them in this article.
H. C. Beck, "Classification and Nomenclature of Bibliography.—H. C. Beck, "Classification and Nomenclature of Beads and Pendants," Archaeologia, vol. lxxvii. (1928), general classi fication giving names of different kinds and some remarks on materials and methods of manufacture ; Joseph Dechelette, Manuel d'Archeologie, prehistorique, celtique et gallo-romaine (1924), many references to early beads, especially those of France ; Edward Dillon, Glass (1907), references to methods of manufacture and types of glass beads; Gustavus Eisen, "Eye Beads," American Journal of Archaeology, vol. xx. pt. i
, discussion of the dates and methods of manufacture of eye beads; Gustavus Eisen, "Button Beads," American Journal of Archaeology, vol. xx. pt. 3 (1916), discussion of the unperforated button beads ; Aveneau de la Granciere, Les Parures pre-historique et antiques en grains d'enfilage et les Colliers talismans Celto-armoricains (1897), description of, and en quiries into the origin and use of, the talisman necklaces of Brittany, with some account of early necklaces of other countries; Sir W. M. Flinders Petrie, Amulets (1914), an exhaustive account of the Egyptian amuletic beads and pendants in the collection at University college, London. (H. BE.)
