Zanzibar and Indian Ocean trade in the first millennium CE: the glass bead evidence

Wood, Marilee; Panighello, Serena; Orsega, Emilio Francesco; Robertshaw, Peter; Elteren, Johannes T. van; Crowther, Alison; Horton, Mark; Boivin, Nicole

doi:10.1007/s12520-015-0310-z

Cited by 81 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Beads incorrectly classified are indicated with . Beads reclassified according to the presence of Uranium are indicated with a U Table 3 of the Euphrates [29,30]. Mag-z-db4, a wound bead, contains high aluminium levels and malayite (Cr-Sn sphene), a phase also detected in some soda glass beads recovered at the Antsiraka Boira necropolis on Mayotte Island (twelfth-thirteenth century) [28].…”

Section: Beads Classified As Plant Ash Glass (Fig 6)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mag-eu-db1 is a low aluminium and high calcium glass with cobalt used as colourant. The associated elements with cobalt are nickel, arsenate (Co/As = 0.4) and bismuth (432.69 ppm), while cobalt blue from east of the Euphrates (such as cobalt in Zhizo beads) shows a higher ratio of Co/As (>1) or is associated with a high iron and low manganese content (Mn/Fe < 0.1) as found in Jingdezhen glazes [29,30]. Mag-eu-lb1 and Mag-eu-lb3 have the same glass composition as The EDS results of bead Mag-k-y5 confirmed that it is inhomogeneous.…”

Section: Beads Classified As European Beads (Fig 7)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Unravelling the glass trade bead sequence from Magoro Hill, South Africa: separating pre-seventeenth-century Asian imports from later European counterparts

et al. 2016

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Excavations conducted between 2010 and 2012 at Magoro Hill, a site in South Africa's Limpopo Province frequented or intermittently occupied by African farming communities since the first millennium AD, yielded a substantial glass bead assemblage. A selection of the beads was studied non-destructively by classifying them according to morphological attributes, supplemented by Raman analyses and XRF measurements. It became evident that a morphological classification of beads recovered from sites that include imports into Africa after the seventeenth century AD could be problematic due to apparent morphological similarities between earlier and later beads. This paper demonstrates the use and archaeological application of Raman and XRF measurements to separate earlier imported beads from later counterparts by identifying glass nanostructure, as well as pigments and opacifiers, which were not used in bead series pre-dating the seventeenth century AD. Results obtained from Raman and XRF measurements indicate that although some beads retrieved from Magoro Hill pre-date the seventeenth century and belong to the Indo-Pacific (K2, East Coast, Khami) and Zimbabwe series, the largest number of beads is from a later European origin. This ties in with the settlement history of the site, which suggests that it primarily served as a rendezvous for episodic rainmaking rituals before it became the stronghold and capital of a Venda chiefdom, headed by the Magoro dynasty, in the second half of the eighteenth century AD. The comparative analysis of the long bead sequence sheds new light on changing patterns in the availability, range, consumption and origin of glass trade beads imported into the northern interior of South Africa over a period of about 1000 years.

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Section: Beads Classified As Plant Ash Glass (Fig 6)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Beads Classified As European Beads (Fig 7)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Unravelling the glass trade bead sequence from Magoro Hill, South Africa: separating pre-seventeenth-century Asian imports from later European counterparts

et al. 2016

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“…1). This was a very active trading depot in the late first millennium (Sinclair et al 2012;Wood et al 2012); indeed, at that time, glass beads were imported in larger numbers into southern Africa than into eastern Africa (Wood 2011;Wood et al 2016). The eighth-to midtenth century Zhizo series is the best known of these beads, but Wood recently identified a BChibuene series^that possibly predates the Zhizo beads (although the low numbers of Chibuene beads might relate to colour and Bfeelp references, with people in the interior preferring Zhizo beads).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Earliest Evidence for the Ivory Trade in Southern Africa: Isotopic and ZooMS Analysis of Seventh–Tenth Century ad Ivory from KwaZulu-Natal

et al. 2016

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KwaGandaganda, Ndondondwane and Wosi were major Early Farming Community settlements in what is today the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. These sites have yielded, among other remains, abundant evidence of ivory and ivory working dating to the seventh-tenth centuries AD, pre-dating by approximately 200 years the better-known ivory artefacts from sites in the Limpopo River Valley and surrounding regions. We report the results of carbon, nitrogen and strontium isotope analysis to explore the origins and procurement of this ivory, in combination with Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) to identify the species of animals from which it was derived. All of the ivory studied using ZooMS was elephant, despite the presence of hippopotamus remains on all three sites. Some ivory was probably obtained from elephant herds that lived close to the sites, in the densely wooded river valleys favoured by both elephants and early farmers. Other material came from savannah environments further afield. Ivory found at these three sites was drawn from different catchments, implying a degree of landscape/resource partitioning even at this early stage. These communities clearly invested substantial effort in obtaining ivory from across the region, which speaks to the importance of this commodity in the economy of the time. We suggest that some ivory items were for local use, but that some may have been intended for more distant markets via Indian Ocean trade. Afr Archaeol Rev (2016) 33:411-435

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“…All trenches were Both the previous (Horton, in press;Juma, 2004) and more recent (Sealinks) excavations have uncovered substantial midden deposits (containing vertebrate and invertebrate remains) associated with wattle-and-daub structures. A range of local and non-local trade wares, glass and shell beads, bead grinders, iron slag and local ETT/TIW ceramics were also recovered, in addition to African and Asian crop remains (Crowther et al, 2016b;Horton, in press;Juma, 2004;Wood et al, 2016). The main period of occupation at Unguja Ukuu, determined via Bayesian analysis of 31 new AMS dates obtained by the Sealinks project, occurred in the 7th-10th centuries CE (Crowther et al, 2016b, in prep.).…”

Section: Unguja Ukuumentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterising marine mollusc exploitation in the eastern African Iron Age: Archaeomalacological evidence from Unguja Ukuu and Fukuchani, Zanzibar

Faulkner

Harris

Ali

et al. 2018

Quaternary International

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Zanzibar and Indian Ocean trade in the first millennium CE: the glass bead evidence

Cited by 81 publications

References 38 publications

Unravelling the glass trade bead sequence from Magoro Hill, South Africa: separating pre-seventeenth-century Asian imports from later European counterparts

Unravelling the glass trade bead sequence from Magoro Hill, South Africa: separating pre-seventeenth-century Asian imports from later European counterparts

Earliest Evidence for the Ivory Trade in Southern Africa: Isotopic and ZooMS Analysis of Seventh–Tenth Century ad Ivory from KwaZulu-Natal

Characterising marine mollusc exploitation in the eastern African Iron Age: Archaeomalacological evidence from Unguja Ukuu and Fukuchani, Zanzibar

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