Toward a Systematic Bead Description System: A View From the Lower Falemme, Senegal

Abstract

This study examines a glass bead assemblage from surveyed and excavated portions of the Falemme (Senegal) to present a classification system for the analysis of archaeological beads in Africa and beyond. Although bead classification poses special problems, it is argued that such analysis is worthwhile, as beads may shed light on the dynamics of production, exchange and consumption in the past, on processes of culture change and continuity, and, most particularly, on chronological assessment. Focusing on the latter, the typological analysis helped us extract diagnostic information from the 474 mainly European-made beads, which complements and nicely supports the temporal sequence derived from imported trade materials and local ceramics.

Slave Communities and Pottery Variability in Western Brazil: The Plantations of Chapada dos Guimarães

“…8). As is well known, beads not only had an esthetic appeal but also a deep connection to the spiritual life of slaves (DeCorse 1989b(DeCorse , 2003. As pointed out before, at the time in which these changes were occurring, historical evidence suggests a higher social stress between slaves and masters in the region.…”

Historical and Dialectical Perspectives on the Archaeology of Complexity in the Siin-Saalum (Senegal): Back to the Future?

“…Nor should we rely on historical assumptions of a 16th century introduction of tobacco pipes or isolated, and possibly contaminated, 14C dates to bracket the subactuel chronologically (Thiaw 1999: 178). A 400-year range is not very useful in contexts that can be dated much more accurately through other classes of material culture (e.g., Thiaw 1999: 211-222, 227-228, 347-369;DeCorse et al 2003). Thus careful crossexamination of well-contextualized European artifact assemblages and associated local ceramics can produce chronological insights into geographic and temporal variation in ceramic production over the past four centuries, when wide statistical margins and other 'two-sigma limits' make radiocarbon estimates often uninformative.…”

Personal Adornment and Expressions of Status: Beads and the Gambia River’s Atlantic Trade

“…In order to compare archaeological and documentary sources, the size categories of small, medium, and large were applied to the Juffure assemblage. This is unlike analytical methods employed with other assemblages from the region, including Falamme or the Siin to the north, where size was simply recorded in millimeters and not grouped into these broader categories (DeCorse et al, 2003;Richard, 2007, pp. 834-860).…”

“…Most notably, DeCorse's system was developed using post-fifteenth century European and African beads from West African contexts (DeCorse et al, 2003, p. 87), and it has been successfully applied to other assemblages from the Senegambia (DeCorse et al, 2003;Richard, 2007, pp. 834-860).…”

“…The designated types and descriptive methods are useful and have been adapted to West African collections (DeCorse, 1989;DeCorse et al, 2003;Karklins, 1992;Karklins and Schrire, 1991;Killick, 1987;Opper and Opper, 1989). The bulk of the beads from Juffure are monochrome simple beads that cannot be positively dated or sourced beyond a general European origin, consequently negating the usefulness of analytical systems developed for determination of chronologies.…”