In 1973, while recovering copper cargo from a 20th-century ship wrecked off the Ponta do Leme Velho on the south-east side of Sal Island, Cape Verde, explosives revealed an earlier ship cargo with dozens of Portuguese faience plates and bowls, glass beads and metal objects, including buckles, ammunition and copper manillas. The assemblage, including the ceramics and a marked silver tastevin, provide a site date between 1680 and 1700. The research presented here is a result of collaboration between CPAS and the authors in 2008 to analyse this assemblage in the context of late 17th-century maritime trade.
The archaeological excavation of a portion of the area were the Santana Convent once stood (Lisbon, 17th-19th centuries), brought to light some of its structures, has well as thousands of artefacts or their fragments. Amongst them, numerous glass adornments, which include rings, bracelets and a significant collection of beads, collected in cesspits and graves. The beads present an accentuated polymorphism and chromatism, being attributed to the late 16th century and, mainly, to the following one. Their origins can be traced to Italy, Netherlands and, perhaps, England, which denounces, as happens with the remaining testimonies collected, a wealthy society, with exquisite taste, able to access international trading routes to provide not only for the high demands of fashion but also the maintenance of their social status.
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