Beads for the nomads of late antiquity: Chemical characterization of glass from the Blemmyan tumuli at Kalabsha, Nubia, of the mid‐fourth century CE

Abstract

The mobility of the Blemmyes between the Nile Valley and the Red Sea coast, and their skill in trading, are well attested in the literary sources and in the archaeological record. While they operated mainly in the Eastern Desert, their cemeteries, dated to the mid-fourth century CE, were located in the strategic region of the Dodekaschoinos of Lower Nubia. The personal adornments of the Blemmyes are mainly composed of beads, but the glass imports have not yet been scientifically studied. This paper presents the results of an analysis of 34 glass beads from Blemmyan cemeteries around Kalabsha. Compositional analyses using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry has identified glass belonging to four groups. Numerous glass beads were made from low alumina soda-lime glass (m-Na-Ca, m/v-Na-Ca), mainly associated with Egyptian production. Five beads were made of high-alumina glass. While three of them were produced in South India/Sri Lanka, mixed or recycled glass was the probable source of high alumina in another two beads. One bead was made of plant ash-soda glass. Results provide scientific evidence for the northernmost presence of South Indian/Sri Lankan glass beads in the Nile Valley and hint at the Blemmyan participation in broader regional exchange networks in North-east Africa during a time of intensive overseas trade.

Beads from a mediaeval pilgrim centre: Chemical composition and provenance of glass from Banganarti, Nubia, Sudan

“…Workshops producing drawn and segmented glass, and metal‐in‐glass (two glass layers with silver or gold foil in‐between) beads were found in Roman and Early Byzantine Alexandria, Egypt (Kucharczyk, 2011; Rodziewicz, 1984). Beads of this type, also dated to these periods and made of both Egyptian and Levantine natron glass, were found in Egypt and Nubia (Then‐Obłuska & Dussubieux, 2021; Then‐Obłuska & Wagner, 2019a,b). However, drawn and segmented beads were also found as far as Roman and mediaeval Europe (Ribe, Denmark—Callmer, 2003; Komani, Albania—Neri et al, 2018) and North Africa (e.g., Fustat – Francis, 2002b; Matmar and Mostagedda—Then‐Obłuska & Pleşa, 2019; al‐Basra, Morocco—Robertshaw et al, 2010).…”

Overseas imports on the Blue Nile: Chemical compositional analysis of glass beads from Soba, Nubia

“…3B; Then‐Obłuska & Dussubieux, 2022). The Egyptian glass usually features Ti levels > 415 ppm, and lower Y 2 O 3 /ZrO 2 and CeO 2 / ZrO 2 ratios when compared with glass from the Levant (> 0.15 and > 0.24, respectively) (e.g., Schibille et al, 2018; Then‐Obłuska & Dussubieux, 2021a, 2021b; Then‐Obłuska & Wagner, 2019a, 2019b). The high level of Ti (883 ppm) in the Soba m/v‐Na‐Ca sample, as well as ratios of Y 2 O 3 /ZrO 2 (0.07) and CeO 2 /ZrO 2 (0.23), would place it within the Egyptian group.…”

“…In general, drawn and rounded glass beads have been associated with a beadmaking technique still in use in India (e.g., Francis, 2002; Kanungo, 2016). Interestingly, beads of this type found in Roman Red Sea port sites and in late antique Nubia proved to have been made of South Indian/Sri Lankan glass (e.g., Then‐Obłuska & Dussubieux, 2016, 2021a, 2021b; Then‐Obłuska & Wagner, 2019a, 2019b). However, in medieval Nubia the drawn and rounded beads appeared to be made also of Middle East (‘Mesopotamian’) and Eastern Mediterranean glass (e.g., Then‐Obłuska et al, 2021).…”

Four millennia of garnet trade in Northeast Africa—chemical analysis of ancient and Late Antiquity beads from Lower Nubian sites

“…In Late Antiquity, 400–600 CE, Northeast Africa had interactions with the West as evidenced by beads made of Western European or Western African garnet (Then‐Obłuska et al, 2021). On the other hand, the distribution of the South Indian glass bead imports found in the Red Sea ports, Eastern Desert, and Nubian Nile Valley sites (400–600 CE) testifies to the increased contacts with the East (e.g., Then‐Obłuska, 2021; Then‐Obłuska & Dussubieux, 2021, 2023; Then‐Obłuska & Wagner, 2019). The same trade links must have resulted also in the presence of a diamond‐drilled, facetted Ca‐ and Mn‐poor pyrope bead in Lower Nubia at that time.…”