“…A central claim of this article is that the bead assemblages recovered at Koromio and Makoroboi represent meaningful and intentional consumer choices, rather than simply forces of market access and economic standing. For the past thirty years, consumer choice and consumption models have helped archaeologists understand how the objects that people acquire both reflect and help to shape social self-creation-including not only class, but also gender and cultural identities (Cook et al 1996;Fitts 1999;Miller 1987;Rotman 2009;Spencer-Wood 1996;Wall 1991Wall , 1994. Spencer-Wood's (1987a: 1, 4, 10-11) Consumer Choice in Historical Archaeology demonstrated how consumption patterns (particularly of ceramics and fauna) are shaped by socioeconomic status, market access, ethnicity, race, and political status, as well as household size, composition, and life cycle.…”