Chemical analysis, chronology, and context of a European glass bead assemblage from Garumele, Niger

Robertshaw, Peter; Wood, Marilee; Haour, Anne; Karklins, Karlis; Neff, Héctor

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2013.08.023

Cited by 25 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…These variations can be linked to different and/or shifting production centres, thus turning beads into useful chronological markers of archaeological sites [2][3][4][5][6]. Some of the beads originating from Europe have specific morphological features that easily distinguish them from the earlier beads [4,[7][8][9] but some are imitations of earlier beads, Open Access *Correspondence: lprinslo@uow.edu.au 2 Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia Full list of author information is available at the end of the article or visually resemble them, making classification on morphological parameters alone difficult. In such cases it is imperative to study differences in glass structure and chemistry, as well as pigments and opacifiers, which can be useful factors to accurately date a bead and trace its origin.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

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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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: Introductionmentioning

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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“…Minor oxides of antimony and manganese make the colourants close to IROG beads found at Garumele (17th–18th century) in Niger (Robertshaw et al . ). However, the glass composition of Danamombe brownish‐red on black, except for one bead (DAN9), is different from the Garumele beads due to their higher concentration of alumina.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Cobalt in European Danamombe beads, regarding traces of Ni (<280 ppm), is close to that measured in Garumele and in some of the Magoro beads with the same glass composition (Robertshaw et al . ; Koleini et al . ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Chronology of Insiza Cluster Khami‐Phase Sites in South‐Western Zimbabwe: Compositional Insights from pXRF and Raman Analysis of Excavated Exotic Glass Finds

et al. 2019

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Fourteen glass beads and one glass fragment from Khami-period (AD 1400-1830) sites of Danamombe, Naletale, Gomoremhiko, Nharire and Zinjanja, in Zimbabwe, were analysed by pXRF and Raman spectroscopy with the intention of correlating the results with associated radiocarbon dates. The results show that Zinjanja and an earlier part of the Danamombe stratigraphic context had Khami Indo-Pacific beads (15th-17th centuries) corresponding with Torwa occupational layers. Other European beads and one bottle fragment [high-lime, lowalkali (HLLA) glass] dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries were confined to the top stratigraphic layers of Danamombe and Naletale, which coincide with the later Rozvi occupational layers. Gomoremhiko had one Mapungubwe-Zimbabwe bead series (13th-15th centuries), which suggests that it was probably earlier than the other sites. All European beads are made of soda-lime plant-ash glass with high alumina, which makes them comparable with glass produced through the Mediterranean traditions in Southern Europe.

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“…The majority of the beads were of small (around 90 per cent, 2-4mm in diameter) and medium size (around 8 per cent, 4-6mm), although some were minute (N = 18, <2mm) or large (N = 3, 6-10mm) (Pikirayi 1993). According to Francis (1988), the brownish-red-ongreen beads were first produced prior to the seventeenth century AD in Venice and Amsterdam, and appeared in African markets from the mid seventeenth to early nineteenth centuries (Beck 1931;Robertshaw et al 2014). Forty-two representative samples in all colours (except black) were selected for a detailed morphological and chemical composition study by portable XRF.…”

Section: Sample Morphology and Frequencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Revisiting Baranda: a multi-analytical approach in classifying sixteenth/seventeenth-century glass beads from northern Zimbabwe

2017

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Chemical analysis, chronology, and context of a European glass bead assemblage from Garumele, Niger

Cited by 25 publications

References 22 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

The Chronology of Insiza Cluster Khami‐Phase Sites in South‐Western Zimbabwe: Compositional Insights from pXRF and Raman Analysis of Excavated Exotic Glass Finds

Revisiting Baranda: a multi-analytical approach in classifying sixteenth/seventeenth-century glass beads from northern Zimbabwe

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