RESEARCHING THE WORLD’S BEADS:

AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Compiled by Karlis Karklins

Society of Bead Researchers

Revised and Updated 1 July 2025

GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS

The items listed here are either of a general or specialized nature that do not readily fit in any of
the other sections.

Allen, Jamey D.
1998 Magical Ancient Beads. Times Editions, Singapore.
This large and handsome volume is basically a guide to the private collection of beads made in
the 1980s, primarily in Afghanistan and Indonesia, by Ulrich J. Beck. It is primarily aimed at
collectors.

2007 Trade Beads: The Manufacture and Movement of Beads in Recent History, from CE
1400 to 1950. In International Bead & Beadwork Conference, edited by Jamey D. Allen
and Valerie Hector. Rezan Has Museum, Istanbul.
Discusses the term “trade bead” and then focuses on Nueva Cadiz and chevron/star beads, and
the origin of Venetian millefiori beads, seed beads, and the original inspirations for rosetta
beads.

Allen, Jamey D. and Valerie Hector (eds.)

2007 International Bead & Beadwork Conference. Rezan Has Museum, Istanbul.
Publishes the 44 papers presented at the International Bead & Beadwork Conference held at
Kadir Has University in Istanbul, Turkey. The theme for the academic program was “The Global
Perspective of Beads and Beadwork: History, Manufacture, Trade, and Adornment.” The
individual bead articles are listed in the appropriate sections of this bibliography. See Karklins
(2007) for a review.

Álvarez-Fernández, Esteban and Diana Rocío Carvajal-Contreras (eds.)

2010 Not only Food: Marine, Terrestrial and Freshwater Molluscs in Archaeological Sites.
Proceedings of the 2nd Meeting of the ICAZ Archaeomalacology Working Group
(Santander, February 19th-22nd 2008). Munibe Suplemento 31.
A number of the papers deal with shell ornaments such as beads and pendants. The relevant
individual papers are listed in the appropriate sections of this bibliography.
Anderson, Carrie
2025 Amsterdam, Accra, America: Glass Beads, Pearls, and Ersatz Gems in the Dutch
Atlantic. Netherlands Yearbook for History of Art / Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek
Online 75(1):126-153; https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004710740_007.
Discusses the important role that glass beads played in the Dutch transatlantic trade.

Angelini, Ivana, Bernard Gratuze, and Gilberto Artioli

2019 Glass and Other Vitreous Materials through History. EMU Notes in Mineralogy
20(Chapter 3):87-150; https://www.academia.edu/68841446/.
The nature and properties of vitreous materials are summarized briefly, with an eye to the
historical evolution of glass production in the Mediterranean world. Focus is on the evolution of
European, Egyptian, and Near East materials. The most common techniques of mineralogical
and chemical characterization of vitreous materials are also described.

Arkhipov, Ilya
2018 Les perles de pierre et de métal dans les textes sumériens et akkadiens. In Chagar Bazar
(Syrie) VI. Les tombes ordinaires de l’âge du Bronze ancien et moyen des chantiers D-F-
H-I (19990-2011). Les objets, edited by Sophie Léon, pp. 43-70. Peeters, Leuven.
https://www.academia.edu/36506730/.
The cuneiform corpus of Sumerian and Akkadian texts allows philologists to make an important
contribution to research on stone and metal beads in the Ancient Near East.

Armstrong, Ann
2015 Review of Journal: Borneo International Beads Conference 2015, edited by Heidi
Munan and Anita MacGillivray (2015). Beads: Journal of the Society of Bead
Researchers 27:79-80; https://journals.oregondigital.org/beads/article/view/6364.

Aufrère, S.
1991 L’Univers minéral dans la pensée égyptienne. 2 vols. Institut français d’archéologie
orientale du Caire, Bibliothèque d’Étude CV/1.
Includes an account of ideas of the magical and other properties of bead materials such as
various stones, gold, silver, and amber.

Barnes, Ruth
1999 Review of Beads and Beadmakers: Gender, Material Culture and Meaning, edited by
Lidia D. Sciama and Joanne B. Eicher (1999). Bead Study Trust Newsletter 33:9;
https://www.societyofjewelleryhistorians.ac.uk/bead_study_trust.

Bar-Yosef Mayer, Daniella E.

2015 Nassarius Shells: Preferred Beads of the Palaeolithic. Quaternary International 390:79-
84; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282551332.
Research has shown that at Middle Palaeolithic sites in both Africa and Eurasia, members of the
genus Nassarius were the preferred mollusks for use as beads.

2016 Stone Beads. In Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in
Non-Western Cultures, edited by Helaine Selin, pp. 4023-4026. Springer Netherlands,
Dordrecht. https://www.academia.edu/44934433/.
An excellent synopsis of stone beads from non-Western archaeological contexts.

2020 Shell Beads of the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic: A Review of the Earliest Records. In
Beauty and the Eye of the Beholder: Personal Adornments across the Millennia, edited
by M. Mãrgãrit and A. Boronean, pp. 11-25. Editura Cetatea de Scaun, Targoviºte.
https://www.academia.edu/44154864/.
Delves into the early use of shell beads by modern humans throughout the Old World.

Bar-Yosef Mayer, Daniella E., Clive Bonsall, and Alice M. Choyke (eds.)
2017 Not Just for Show: The Archaeology of Beads, Beadwork and Personal Ornaments.
Oxbow Books, Oxford and Philadelphia.
Contains 11 articles grouped into four sections: 1) socio-cultural reflections, 2) audio and visual
social cues, 3) methodological approaches, and 4) experimentation and technology. The
individual articles are listed in the relevant sections of this bibliography. Reviewed by Karklins
(2018).

Bar-Yosef Mayer, Daniella E. and Heeli Schechter (eds.)

2024 Shell and Personal Adornments in Neolithic Cultures. Journal of Archaeological
Science: Reports 56; https://www.sciencedirect.com/special-issue/10GMQPMCJP6.
The papers of this special issue provide a concentrated look at how shell ornaments were used by
early farming communities worldwide, and what they may reflect.

Basa, Kishor K.
2017 Small Find, Immense Impact: Importance of Bead Studies. In Stone Beads of South and
Southeast Asia: Archaeology, Ethnography and Global Connections, edited by Alok
Kumar Kanungo, pp. 1-14. Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar.
A detailed study of beads in their archaeological contexts can reveal much about their history,
production, origin, use, cultural context, and economic role, as well as the trade routes and
exchange systems that moved them around the world.

Beck, Horace C.
2006 Classification and Nomenclature of Beads and Pendants. Beads: Journal of the Society of
Bead Researchers 18:1-76; https://www.academia.edu/39087976/.
Originally published in 1928, Beck’s monograph remains a classic in its field and is still the only
comprehensive work that deals with the classification of beads of complex shapes and forms.
The 2006 version replicates the original 1928 version with the addition of an addendum that
presents corrections and additions made to the manuscript by Beck up to 1934.

Beck, Lauren
2023 Beads and Ceremony: The Collision of Pan-American, European, African, and Asian
Bead Networks in the Sixteenth-Century Spanish Empire. Religions 14, 1335;
https://www.academia.edu/108508555/.
A powerful bead network that wove together a transcontinental tapestry of cultures predated the
Spanish invasion of the Americas.

Bednarik, Robert G.
1997 About Ostrich Eggshell Beads. Acta Archaeologica 68:153-161;
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/358089717.
Theoretical considerations and replication experiments imply a more sophisticated background
to Indian and African Paleolithic eggshell beads than many archaeologists have held.

1997 The Role of Pleistocene Beads in Documenting Hominid Cognition. Rock Art Research
14(1):27-44; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247986798.
Based on replicative experimentation, the technological implications of bead and pendant
manufacture in the Paleolithic period are examined in the context of what they can tell us about
the cognitive faculties of Pleistocene humans.

1998 The Archaeological Significance of Beads and Pendants. Man and Environment
23(2):87-99; https://www.academia.edu/11318856/.
Discusses the subject from the perspective of cognitive human evolution. Posits the presence of
beads from the Acheulian period onwards, and presents the results of replicating the manufacture
of ostrich-eggshell beads.

2001 Beads and Pendants of the Pleistocene. Anthropos 96:545-555;

https://www.academia.edu/12321446/.
Surveys the distribution of Pleistocene beads and pendants in time and space, their forms of
occurrence, and the implications of these empirical observations for hominid ethology. It is
concluded that such symbolic artefacts were in use since the Lower Paleolithic (i.e., for at least
two or three hundred millennia) and that complex communication and social systems must be
attributed to the societies concerned.

2003 The Earliest Evidence of Palaeoart. Rock Art Research 20(2):3-28;

https://www.academia.edu/108470379/.
A comprehensive review of evidence of very early paleoart covering all continents reveals
significant misconceptions in the dominant models of “art” origins. The existence of early non-
utilitarian traditions is demonstrated, including beadmaking and pigment use in the Lower
Paleolithic, and the widespread uniformity of Middle Paleolithic paleoart traditions is noted. The
evidence suggests that the oldest and symbolically most sophisticated paleoart is that of Asia
rather than Europe.

2005 The Technology and Use of Beads in the Pleistocene. Paper presented at the 11th Annual
Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists, 5-11 September 2005, Cork.
https://www.academia.edu/7208682/.
The study of beads and pendants is particularly productive, in terms of the information it is likely
to yield about the way the artifacts were produced, how they were used, and what happened to
them after they were deposited in its archaeological context (taphonomy).

2006 Beads, Symbolism and Self-awareness. Semiotix Course 2006, Cognition and Symbolism
in Human Evolution Lecture No. 4. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/358200726.
Explores the role of beads in understanding the emergence of modern human cognition
and symbolism. Includes a discussion of early pendants and beads, as well as the technology of
ostrich eggshell beads.

2008 Beads and Cognitive Evolution. Time and Mind: The Journal of Archaeology,
Consciousness and Culture 1(3):285-319; https://www.academia.edu/108470546/.
The author reviews the available corpus of bead and pendant finds from the Middle and Late
Pleistocene periods and suggests not only the use of complex symbolisms several hundred
millennia ago, but also the application of concepts of perfection and self-awareness. This finding
agrees with other indicators of hominin cognition, but it clashes with the dominant notion that
“modern” human faculties appeared with a hypothetical replacement of Europeans by Africans
just 35,000 years ago.

2011 About Ostrich Eggshell Beads. The Bead Forum 59:2-8; https://beadresearch.org/the-
bead-forum-archive/.
On early disc beads and the replication of their manufacturing techniques.

2014 Paleoart of the Lower Paleolithic. Progress in Arts and Humanities 1(1):1-12;
https://www.academia.edu/104015735/.
Summarizes the earliest known art-like productions by humans, including beads and pendants.

2015 The Significance of the Earliest Beads. Advances in Anthropology 5:51-66;

https://www.academia.edu/108470361/.
This paper attempts to explore beyond the predictable and banal archaeological explanations
relating to early beads and pendants. It recounts replication experiments to establish aspects of
technology so as to better understand what can be learned from the quantifiable properties of
these artifacts.
Bernbaum, Marjorie
2012 Review of Journal: Borneo International Beads Conference 2011, edited by Heidi
Munan and Freya Martin (2011). Beads: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers
24:103-107; https://surface.syr.edu/beads/vol24/iss1/12/.

Bigi, Elisa, and Massimo Vidale

2009 Trashy Treasures: Beads on the Streets of Rome. Ornament 33(2):54-57;
https://www.academia.edu/3877436/.
Investigates how beads are lost, dumped, and finally scattered in the archaeological record of
cities using Rome’s Rione Esquilino, the bead-trade section, as a case study.

Botha, Rudolf
2008 Prehistoric Shell beads as a Window on Language Evolution. Language &
Communication 28(3):197-212; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2007.05.002.
Addressing the question “Can one learn something about the evolution of language from
prehistoric shell beads?”, the article analyzes the chain of inferential steps by which this
conclusion was reached. It argues that some of these steps are problematic in not being
underpinned by well-articulated theories of what “fully syntactical language” is and of why a
complex form of syntax is a requisite for transmitting MSA symbolic meanings.

2011 Inferring Modern Language from Ancient Objects. In The Oxford Handbook of Language
Evolution, edited by Kathleen R. Gibson and Maggie Tallerman, pp. 303-312. Oxford
University Press.
Focuses on the inference that the Middle Stone Age inhabitants of Blombos Cave, South Africa,
had fully syntactic language. This is derived from an evaluation of the properties of 41
perforated shells of the scavenging gastropod Nassarius kraussianus which are believed to have
been worn by the humans who inhabited the cave some 75,000 years ago.

Brakel, Koos van

2006 The Bead Goes On: The Sample Card Collection with Trade Beads from the Company
J.F. Sick & Co. in the Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam. KIT, Amsterdam.
The J.F. Sick & Co. collection contains 197 sample cards displaying 22,000 beads as well as a
50-page color catalog. This book documents and illustrates the collection. The sample cards are
assigned to four chronological groups: 1) 1910-1913 (cards 1-68); 2) 1920-1929 (cards 69-150);
3) 1930-1939 (cards 151-181); and 1948 onwards (cards 182-188). Some of these are illustrated
in the book. The rest are on an accompanying DVD. They show the wide range of fancy and
millefiori/mosaic glass beads that poured into West Africa during the first half of the 20th
century, including various rosetta or chevron beads. Africa, Venice, Italy. See also van Alphen
(2014). See Karklins (2007) for a review.
Brosseder, Ursula B.
2015 A Study on the Complexity and Dynamics of Interaction and Exchange in Late Iron Age
Eurasia. In Complexity of Interaction along the Eurasian Steppe Zone in the first
Millennium CE, edited by J. Bemmann and M. Schmauder, pp. 199-332. Bonn
Contributions to Asian Archaeology 7. https://www.academia.edu/12185467/.
This study is a macro-analysis of long-distance exchange along the Eurasian Steppe Highway
from ca. 200 BCE to 200 CE. The goods discussed include amber, glass, and faience beads and
pendants.

Çakýrlar, Canan (ed.)

2011 Archaeomalacology Revisited: Non-Dietary Use of Molluscs in Archaeological Settings.
Oxbow Books, Oxford.
Contains ten articles, many of which deal with beads and pendants, mostly from New World
(Mexico, Colombia, United States) contexts. The relevant articles are listed in the South
America and North America bibliographies.

Camps-Fabrer, Henriette (ed.)

1991 Fiches typologiques de l’industrie osseuse préhistorique, cahier IV: Objets de parure.
Publications de l’Université de Provence, Aix-en-Provence.
A typology for prehistoric bone ornaments, including beads, spacers, and pendants.

Carey, Margret
2012 Review of The History of Beads: From 100,000 B.C. to the Present, Revised and
Expanded Edition, by Lois Sherr Dubin (2009). Beads: Journal of the Society of Bead
Researchers 24:98-99; https://journals.oregondigital.org/beads/article/view/6347.

2012 Review of Munsell Bead Color Book, by Munsell Color (2012). Beads: Journal of the
Society of Bead Researchers 24:110;
https://journals.oregondigital.org/beads/article/view/6353.

Carroll, Scott and Kelly McHugh

1999 Material Characterization of Glass Disease on Beaded Ethnographic Artifacts from the
Collection of the National Museum of the American Indian. In Ethnographic Beadwork:
Aspects of Manufacture, Use, and Conservation, edited by Margot M. Wright, pp. 27-38.
Archetype Publications, London.
Most affected beads fell into one of two categories: those with a waxy/crusty surface that tests
positive for triglyceride oils and those with a powdery/crystalline coating that does not.

Carter, Alison Kyra

2016 Circular or Half-Moon Marks on Old Beads. The Bead Forum 69:1-2;
https://beadresearch.org/the-bead-forum-archive/.
Explains the nature of crescent-shaped marks found on some old glass and stone beads from
Asia and elsewhere.

Carter, Alison, Elliot H. Blair, Carla Klehm, and Lee M. Panich

2022 Glass Beads and Human Pasts. In The Elemental Analysis of Glass Beads: Technology,
Chronology and Exchange, edited by Laure Dussubieux and Heather Walder, pp. 37-53.
Studies in Archaeological Sciences 8. https://www.academia.edu/88248199/.
Reviews a variety of case studies that demonstrate how glass beads in particular have been used
to examine trade and economic systems, intercultural interactions and colonialism, social
identity, and technological practices.

Carter, Alison Kyra, Shinu Anna Abraham, and Gwendolyn O. Kelly

2016 Updating Asia’s Maritime Bead Trade: An Introduction. Archaeological Research in
Asia 6:1-3; https://www.academia.edu/91381608/.
Vol. 6 of Archaeological Research in Asia is a special issue focused on updating Peter Francis,
Jr.’s, book Asia’s Maritime Bead Trade. It contains six papers that deal with Indo-Pacific beads
in Central and Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. The introduction offers a
brief background on Francis’ book and the motivation for putting together this special issue. The
individual articles are annotated in the appropriate sections of the Researching the World’s
Beads bibliography.

Caubet, Annie (ed.)

2007 Faïences et matières vitreuses de l’Orient ancien: Étude physio-chimique et catalogue
des oeuvres du département des Antiquités orientales. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
This catalog of ancient Oriental objects of faience and glass includes beads. Some catalog entries
include results of chemical analyses. Also provides French names for bead shapes.

Ceci, Lynn
1989 The Anthropology of Shell Beads: Subsistence, Systems, and Symbols. In Proceedings of
the 1986 Shell Bead Conference, edited by Charles F. Hayes III, pp. 1-5. Rochester
Museum and Science Center, Research Records 20.
Charts the evolution of anthropological research on shell beads from ca. 1840 to 1986.

Christie, Heather R.
2019 Pushing Boundaries: Spectral Imaging of Archaeological Small Finds. Ph.D. dissertation.
School of Simulation and Visualisation, Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow.
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/200762449.pdf.
Introduces novel, effective, and affordable methods for digitally imaging small, reflective and
translucent objects using photography, PTM reflectance transformation imaging, and structure
from motion photogrammetry. The focus is on glass beads from Iron Age and Early Medieval
Scottish contexts.
Claassen, Cheryl
1998 Shells. Cambridge Manuals in Archaeology. Cambridge University Press.
Much useful information from archaeology and ethnography on shells as bead materials. Covers
tools, shell-working, how to measure and describe, symbolism, distribution, sourcing, and
exchange.

Conn, Richard G.
1998-1999 Progress and Problems in Recent Trade Bead Research. Beads: Journal of the
Society of Bead Researchers 10-11:63-66; https://www.academia.edu/24326749/.
This is the transcript of a paper that was given at the conference of the Canadian Archaeological
Association in 1968. It shows the ground that had been covered up to that date, and indicates the
gaps that still remain to be filled.

Dapschauskas, Rimtautas
2015 Der älteste Schmuck der Menschheit – Implikationen für die kognitive Evolution von
Homo sapiens (The Earliest Personal Ornaments in the World – Implications for the
Cognitive Evolution of Homo sapiens). Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte
24:29-96; https://www.academia.edu/21783838/.
Discusses empirical evidence for the intentional use of personal ornaments by early Homo
sapiens and interprets the finds in the context of theoretical reflections on symbolic
communication. The analysis draws on a combination of theories, concluding that an expansion
of human cognitive capacities to communicate symbolically probably occurred in Homo sapiens
during the Middle Stone Age in Southern Africa, as well as the Middle Paleolithic of Northern
Africa and the Levant.

Davis, Nancy
1989 Conservation of Archaeological Shell Artifacts. In Proceedings of the 1986 Shell Bead
Conference, edited by Charles F. Hayes III, pp. 13-16. Rochester Museum and Science
Center, Research Records 20.
Explains the correlation between poor storage conditions and the powdering of shell artifacts.
Possible treatments are discussed and preventive measures are outlined.

d’Errico, Francesco and Chris B. Stringer

2011 Evolution, Revolution or Saltation Scenario for the Emergence of Modern Cultures?
Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society B 366:1060-1069;
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/50226351.
Crucial questions in the debate on the origin of quintessential human behaviors are whether
modern cognition and associated innovations are unique to our species and whether they
emerged abruptly, gradually, or as the result of a discontinuous process. The scenarios are
evaluated in the light of new evidence from Africa, Asia, and Europe (including shell beads) and
the mechanisms that may have led to modern cultures are explored.
d’Errico, F. and M. Vanhaeren
2011 Linguistic Implications of the Earliest Personal Ornaments. In The Oxford Handbook of
Language Evolution, edited by Kathleen R. Gibson and Maggie Tallerman, pp. 299-302.
Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199541119.013.0029.
This article shows the role of ornaments in understanding the evolution of the modern language.
The analysis of a geospatial database recording the occurrence of 157 bead types at 98
Aurignacian sites has identified a definite cline in ornament types, sweeping counter-clockwise
from the Northern Plains to the Eastern Alps, via Western and Southern Europe, through
fourteen geographically cohesive sets of sites. The sets most distant from each other do not share
any bead types but share personal ornament types with intermediate sets.

d’Errico, F., M. Vanhaeren, C. Henshilwood, G. Lawson, B. Maureille, D. Gambier, A.-M.

Tillier, M. Soressi, and K. van Niekerk
2009 From the Origin of Language to the Diversification of Languages: What can Archaeology
and Palaeoanthropology Say? In Becoming Eloquent: Advances in the Emergence of
Language, Human Cognition, and Modern Cultures, edited by F. d’Errico and J.-M.
Hombert, pp. 13-68. John Benjamins, Amsterdam.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285775451.
Challenges the idea of a strict link between biological and behavioral change and suggests that
modern cognition and language are results of a gradual, complex, and non-linear process to
whose advancement different human populations and possibly a number of fossil human species
have contributed. Beads enter into the discussion.

Dorsey, A. Breckenridge
2004 Prayer Beads in Asian Buddhist Cultures. Arts of Asia 34(4):47-64.
The article has 39 color illustrations showing different types of Buddhist rosaries made of a
variety of materials. The origin and development of rosaries in eastern Asia is reviewed,
followed by a text giving a detailed exposition of the varying ways in which different Buddhist
cultures use prayer beads in Tibet, China, Korea and Japan.

Dubin, Lois Sherr

1987 The History of Beads from 30,000 B.C. to the Present. Harry N. Abrams, New York.
Major work on beads worldwide and through time with a fold-out timeline of bead varieties. See
Sprague (1989) for a review.

2007 The Good, the Bad and the Evil Eye Bead: A New Look at Eye Beads throughout
History. In International Bead & Beadwork Conference, edited by Jamey D. Allen and
Valerie Hector. Rezan Has Museum, Istanbul.
On the nature and power of eye beads in various parts of the world over time.

2009 The History of Beads: From 100,000 B.C. to the Present, Revised and Expanded Edition.
Abrams, New York.
An updated version of Dubin (1987). See Carey (2012) for a review.

2009 The Worldwide History of Beads. Thames and Hudson, London.

The UK version of The History of Beads (Dubin 2009).

Dunn, Gretchen
2013 Review of Glass Beads: Selections from The Corning Museum of Glass, by Adrienne V.
Gennett (2013). Beads: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers 25:103-104;
https://journals.oregondigital.org/beads/article/view/6357.

Eicher, Joanne B. (ed.)

2010 Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion. Vol. 10: Global Perspectives. Oxford
University Press, Oxford.
Beads feature prominently in the timeline found in the appendix.

Eppen, Joan
2005 Review of Ornaments from the Past: Bead Studies after Beck, edited by Ian Glover,
Helen Hughes-Brock, and Julian Henderson (2004). Beads: Journal of the Society of
Bead Researchers 17:69-70; https://surface.syr.edu/beads/vol17/iss1/11/.

Falabella, Rosanna
2021 “Cherry Amber” Phenolic Resin Beads. The Bead Forum 78:10-12;
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351364958.
Presents historical and experimental evidence supporting the idea that most “cherry amber”
beads were originally amber colored, faux amber being one of the earliest and probably most
profitable uses of phenolic resin outside of industrial applications.

Falabella, Rosanna and Floor Kaspers

2017 Update on Imitation Amber Bead Sample Cards in the Jablonec Museum of Glass and
Jewelry. The Bead Forum 71:3-5; https://beadresearch.org/the-bead-forum-archive/.
Discusses the degradation of celluloid beads imitating amber in a museum collection and how
celluloid beads should be stored to prevent this.

Falci, Catarina Guzzo, Jacques Cuisin, André Delpuech, Annelou Van Gijn, and Corinne
L. Hofman
2018 New Insights into Use-Wear Development in Bodily Ornaments through the Study of
Ethnographic Collections. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory;
https://www.academia.edu/37355793/.
Demonstrates how individual strung beads develop characteristic use-wear in relation to one
another and the string based on a microscopic study of 38 composite ornaments from lowland
South America. Materials include shell, stone, bone, teeth, wood, and nuts.
Fauvel, Mikael
2024 Shell Money: A Comparative Study. Elements in Ancient and Pre-modern Economies,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. https://www.academia.edu/114930869/.
Examines where, when, and under what circumstances money first emerged through a
comparative study of the use of shells and shell beads to facilitate trade and exchange in ancient
societies around the world.

Fenn, Julia
1987 Deterioration of Glass Trade Beads in Contact with Skin and Leather or Glass Beads in
Soapy Bubble. In ICOM Committee for Conservation 8th Triennial Meeting, Working
Group 3: Ethnographic Materials, pp. 195-197. Sydney, Australia. https://www.icom-cc-
publications-online.org/3132/.
The degeneration of glass beads sewn on leather to an amorphous waxy mass is caused by the
interaction of alkaline salts leaching from the potash-glass beads with fatty material from the
leather.

1995 Glass Bead in Soapy Bubble. Rotunda 28(2):40-41.

A brief note on a specific form of glass-bead disease: saponification.

Ferencz, Eszter
2017 Gyöngyök reflektorfényben. Régészeti korú gyöngyök restaurálási megoldásai,
készítéstechnikai megfigyelések [Beads in the Spotlight. Restoration Solutions for
Archaeological Age Beads, and Preparation Technique Observations]. Savaria - A Vas
Megyei Múzeumok értesítõje 39:241-253; https://www.academia.edu/36745116/.
Focuses on the conservation and restoration of glass beads from three different archaeological
periods.

Ferguson, Jonathan
2014 Munsell Notations and Color Names: Recommendations for Archaeological Practice.
Journal of Field Archaeology 39(4):327-335;
https://doi.org/10.1179/0093469014Z.00000000097.
Reviews the merits of the Munsell Bead Color Book, among others, and provides a list of color
names based on those used in the Inter-Society Color Council-National Bureau of Standards
(ISCC-NBS) Centroid Color Chart.

Fiedel, Stuart J.
1989 Social Implications of Ornaments in Hunter-Gatherer Burials. In Proceedings of the 1986
Shell Bead Conference, edited by Charles F. Hayes III, pp. 189-197. Rochester Museum
and Science Center, Research Records 20.
Archaeologists have cited ornamented burials as evidence that some hunting-gathering societies
formerly assumed to have been egalitarian were, in fact, ranked. However, ethnographic
analogies and some archaeological data relating to sociopolitical organization in most cases do
not support inferences of ranking based on mortuary evidence alone.

Francis, Peter, Jr.

1988 When is a Bead not a Bead? Ornament 11(3):33, 66-76.
Discusses the term “bead” and problematical overlaps with such things as pendants, seals,
spindle whorls, bone tools, etc.

1989 The Bead Dictionary. World of Beads Monograph Series 9. Lake Placid, NY.
https://beadresearch.org/cbr-publications/.
Provides a lengthy glossary of terms related to beads, including their etymology.

1989 Beads in the Islamic World. The Margaretologist 2(3):7-8;

https://beadresearch.org/resources/the-margaretologist/.
Concentrates on the Early Islamic Period (7th-12th centuries) and discusses technological links
to modern beadmakers in the Middle East.

1990 “Children” of Indo-Pacific Beads. Ornament 13(4):70-78.

Deals with drawn striped beads, noting possible manufacturing centers at Mantai, Sri Lanka, and
Takua Pa, Thailand.

1990 Glass Beads in Asia Part 2: Indo-Pacific Beads. Asian Perspectives 29:1-23.
Discusses a small, drawn, monochrome bead type that persisted for some 2000 years.

1991 Some Thoughts on the Bead Trade. The Margaretologist 4(2):3-12;

https://beadresearch.org/resources/the-margaretologist/.
Discusses the motives, mechanics, and geography of the worldwide trade in beads. Also included
is a discussion of the alteration of beads to suit local tastes.

1992 Bead Mysteries Solved! The Margaretologist 5(1):3-12;

https://beadresearch.org/resources/the-margaretologist/.
Investigates several bead groups encountered in Asia: pumtek, mutisalah, Indo-Pacific, and coil.

1992 Heirloom Beads. The Margaretologist 5(2):3-6; https://beadresearch.org/resources/the-

margaretologist/.
Discusses the heirlooming of beads around the world.

1993 Bead Altering. The Margaretologist 6(1):7-8; https://beadresearch.org/resources/the-

margaretologist/.
Summarizes three methods used to alter glass beads to suit local consumer tastes: breaking,
grinding, and heating.
1994 Beads of the World: A Collector’s Guide with Price Reference. Schiffer, Atglen, PA.
This guide to the awesome universe of collectible beads covers such topics as bead manufacture
and identification, followed by a discussion of the world’s beads by geographical area. See
Tomalin (1993) for a review.

1994 Gooseberry Beads. The Margaretologist 7(1):5-7; https://beadresearch.org/resources/the-

margaretologist/.
Discusses the distinctive “gooseberry beads” which are drawn with white stripes sandwiched
between two layers of clear glass.

1994 Toward a Social History of Beadmakers. Beads: Journal of the Society of Bead
Researchers 6:61-80; https://www.academia.edu/19384118/.
The sociology of beadmakers is reviewed in terms of physical translocation, social organization,
position within society, and how their traditions are passed on.

1995 What’s in a Name? The Margaretologist 8(1):11-12;

https://beadresearch.org/resources/the-margaretologist/.
Discusses the various names applied to drawn polyhedral beads that have facets ground on the
corners: Russian, ambassador, cornerless hexagonal, and cut blue.

1997 Special Issue: Seed Beads. The Margaretologist 10(2):3-13;

https://beadresearch.org/resources/the-margaretologist/.
Provides information concerning sizing, packaging, dating, and terminology.

2002 Asia’s Maritime Bead Trade: 300 B.C. to the Present. University of Hawai’i Press,
Honolulu.
A book with a broad scope. In addition to the production, use, and provenance of beads involved
in Asian maritime commerce, this book examines the importance of the bead trade for the
economies of the countries involved and provides insights into the lives of its many participants:
artisans, mariners, and merchants. It covers the widely-dispersed Indo-Pacific beads (aka
mulisalah), Chinese glass beads, Middle Eastern glass beads, Indian stone beads, heirloom beads
in Southeast Asia and Micronesia, and other minor beads and bead industries involved in the
trade. See Insoll (2002) and Lankton (2002) for a review.

2002 The Bead Trade around the World. The Margaretologist 14(2):3-12;
https://beadresearch.org/resources/the-margaretologist/.
Examines world-wide bead trade routes using three case studies: coral, Chinese glass beads in
America, and beads to Alaska.

2002 Super Bead Plants. The Margaretologist 15(1):3-12;

https://beadresearch.org/resources/the-margaretologist/.
A survey of plants whose seeds, nuts, and dried berries have been fashioned into beads.
Garofoli, Duilio
2014 Do Early Body Ornaments Prove Cognitive Modernity? A Critical Analysis from
Situated Cognition. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 14:803-825;
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-014-9356-0.
The author concludes that early body ornaments such as beads are currently unable to support
cognitive equivalence between primitive and modern human populations.

Gennett, Adrienne V.
2013 Glass Beads: Selections from The Corning Museum of Glass. The Corning Museum of
Glass, Corning, NY.
Presents color photographs of 50 of the finest items from the exhibit “Life on a String: 35
Centuries of the Glass Bead” held at The Corning Museum of Glass in 2013-2014, along with
information regarding their manufacture, history, and cultural context. See Dunn (2013) for a
review.

Glover, Ian, Helen Hughes-Brock, and Julian Henderson (eds.)

2003 Ornaments from the Past: Bead Studies After Beck. The Bead Study Trust, London.
This book is sub-titled “A Book on Glass and Semiprecious Stone Beads in History and
Archaeology for Archaeologists, Jewellery Historians and Collectors.” The volume comprises
eleven papers on glass and hard stone ornaments surviving from ancient societies, and those
made and worn by some traditional communities in the modern world. The individual articles are
listed in the appropriate sections of this bibliography. See Eppen (2005) for a review.

Godey’s Magazine and Lady’s Book

2017 Full Instructions in Needle-Work of All Kinds: Beads. Beads: Journal of the Society of
Bead Researchers 29:85; https://www.academia.edu/128943555/.
This item appeared in Godey’s Magazine and Lady’s Book for 1858 (vol. 50, pp. 169-170) as
part of a series of articles presenting “Full Instructions in Needle-Work of All Kinds.” It offers
contemporary insight into the major categories of beads used in needle work in the United States
during the mid-19th century.

Graeber, David
1996 Beads and Money: Notes Toward a Theory of Wealth and Power. American Ethnologist
23(1):4-24; https://doi.org/10.1525/ae.1996.23.1.02a00010.
Investigates why so many cultures have adopted beads and other adornments as trade currencies.

Gumpert, Anita von Kahler

2007 The Timeless Cowrie: Its Significance the World Over. The Bead Society of Greater
Washington, Washington DC.
Cowries are a universal favorite among shell ornaments. The author covers the subject under the
headings of history and symbolism; the African trade; natural history; myth, magic and religion;
status and ornamentation; collections; and finally, decoration and jewelry.
Gumpert, Anita von Kahler and Karlis Karklins
2005 Die Perle: A 1920s German Trade Journal. Beads: Journal of the Society of Bead
Researchers 17:19-34; https://www.academia.edu/27508626/.
Though short lived, the German trade journal, Die Perle, contains a wealth of information
concerning the European bead and jewelry industry of the 1920s. Short articles provide insight
into new machinery and apparatus for producing beads, natural and artificial materials for the
production of beads and other ornaments, fashion trends, market reports, and numerous other
topics. As the journals are in German, English summaries are provided for a representative
sample of the articles to give the reader an idea of their vast scope.

Gupta, Sunil
2021 Early Glass Trade along the Maritime Silk Route (500 BCE-500 CE): An Archaeological
Review. In Ancient Glass of South Asia: Archaeology, Ethnography and Global
Connections, edited by Alok Kumar Kanungo and Laure Dussubieux, pp. 451-488.
Springer Nature, Singapore.
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-16-3656-1_19.
Discusses the trade in raw glass and finished glass products such as beads from the Red Sea to
the South China Sea.

Hayes III, Charles F. (ed.)

1989 Proceedings of the 1986 Shell Bead Conference. Rochester Museum and Science Center,
Research Records 20.
Contains 18 papers that deal with various aspects of shell bead research around the world. The
individual papers are listed in the relevant sections of this bibliography. See Smith (1990) for a
review.

Heckel, Claire E.
2016 Digital Morphometric Analysis of Upper Palaeolithic Beads: Assessing Artifact
Variability with User-Friendly Freeware. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
10:893-902; https://www.academia.edu/29967539/.
Based on a case study of over 400 basket-shaped beads from Early Upper Palaeolithic
(Aurignacian) deposits at four sites in the Aquitaine region of France, this article presents the
results of morphometric analysis based on digital photographs using a freeware program
developed in the biological sciences.

Henderson, Julian
2000 The Science and Archaeology of Materials: An Investigation of Inorganic Materials.
Routledge, Oxon, UK.
Chapter 3 (Glass) presents an excellent overview of glass, its constituents, production, and
history up to the 18th century.
Hoareau, Leïla and Sylvie Beyries
2024 Wear Formation on Shell Ornaments: Mechanical and Actualistic Experiments, Two
Complementary Approaches. In Artefact Biographies from Mesolithic and Neolithic
Europe and Beyond. Papers in Honour of Professor Annelou van Gijn, edited by A.
Verbaas, G. Langejans, A. Little, and B. Chan, pp. 29-43. Analecta Praehistorica
Leidensia 51. DOI: 10.59641/pp090sb.
Two different modes of experimentation revealed that use-wear patterns on shell beads can be
distinguished by the type of traces and their distribution on the shell.

Hutchinson, M.E.
1996 Gemmological Work in the Ancient Monuments Laboratory 1980-1995. Ancient
Monuments Laboratory Report 35-96.
Demonstrates why all decorative beads and stones from archaeological sites should be examined
by a qualified gemmologist. Examples include modern shell beads which had been identified as
crinoid ossicles and an emerald found with hexagonal glass beads and originally thought to be
one of them.

Iliopoulos, Antonis
2016 The Evolution of Material Signification: Tracing the Origins of Symbolic Body
Ornamentation through a Pragmatic and Enactive Theory of Cognitive Semiotics. Signs
and Society 4(2):244-277; https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/688619.
Proposes that the reductive method most archaeologists adopt in studying early body
ornamentation, such as shell beads, is problematic because it describes the nature of material
signification in strictly linguistic terms and attributes the emergence of significative concepts to
a representational mechanism. Yet the meaning of past material signs is neither purely arbitrary
nor the epiphenomenal product of internal representations.

Insoll, Timothy
2002 Review of Asia’s Maritime Bead Trade: 300 B.C. to the Present, by Peter Francis, Jr.
(2002). Bead Study Trust Newsletter 40:13-14;
https://www.societyofjewelleryhistorians.ac.uk/bead_study_trust.

Jönsson, Maibritt and Pete Hunner

1995 Gold-Foil Beads. In Glass Beads: Cultural History, Technology, Experiment and
Analogy, edited by M. Rasmussen, U.L. Hansen, and U. Näsman, pp. 113-116.
Historical-Archaeological Experimental Center, Studies in Technology and Culture 2.

Jurriaans-Helle, Geralda
1994 Kralen verhalen. Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam.
Catalog for the exhibition Kralen Verhalen (Talking about Beads) which featured beads from the
extensive van der Sleen collection. In Dutch, it contains several color plates which cover most of
the world’s beads and includes a short biography of Dr. van der Sleen.
Karklins, Karlis
1985 Glass Beads: The Levin Catalogue of Mid-19th Century Beads, A Sample Book of 19th
Century Venetian Beads, Guide to the Description and Classification of Glass Beads.
Parks Canada, Studies in Archaeology, Architecture and History. Ottawa.
https://www.academia.edu/35225917/.
Updated versions of the articles are available. Levin: https://www.academia.edu/27507749/;
Sample Book: https://www.academia.edu/27754619/; and Guide:
https://www.academia.edu/38130799/.

1994 Review of Collectible Beads: A Universal Aesthetic, by Robert K. Liu (1995). Beads:
Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers 6:84-85;
https://surface.syr.edu/beads/vol6/iss1/9/.

2004 The Levin Catalogue of Mid-19th-Century Beads. Beads: Journal of the Society of Bead
Researchers 16:39-50; https://www.academia.edu/27507749/.
The catalog is composed of two similar collections of glass and stone beads assembled by Moses
Lewin Levin, a London bead merchant whose business operated from 1830 to 1913. A total of
621 beads comprising 128 different varieties makes up the collections which can be dated to the
period 1851-1869. The beads are recorded as having been used in the African trade but have
counterparts in North America and likewise elsewhere.

2007 Review of The Bead Goes On: The Sample Card Collection with Trade Beads from the
Company J.F. Sick & Co. in the Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, by Koos van Brakel (2006).
Beads: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers 19:80;
https://surface.syr.edu/beads/vol19/iss1/12/.

2007 Review of International Bead & Beadwork Conference, edited by Jamey D. Allen and
Valerie Hector (2007). Beads: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers 19:74-75;
https://surface.syr.edu/beads/vol19/iss1/12/.

2009 Photographing Patinated Glass Beads. Beads: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers
21:69-70. Reprinted from The Bead Forum 25:13 (1994);
https://www.academia.edu/39087830/.
Good color photographs are an essential complement to written descriptions of beads.
Unfortunately, where archaeological specimens are involved, the original color of a bead is
frequently obscured by a layer of patina, resulting in rather drab photographs. This article
provides some tips for improving the results.

2009 Twenty Years of The Bead Forum: Newsletter of the Society of Bead Researchers (1982-
2002). Beads: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers 21;
https://www.academia.edu/39087830/.
As the early Bead Forums are not readily available, a broad selection of the articles and other
items that appeared in the first forty issues are reprinted in this volume. The coverage spans the
globe and the temporal spectrum. While some of the material is dated, it is nevertheless
interesting from a historical research perspective.

2013 Review of Journal: Borneo International Beads Conference 2013, edited by Heidi
Munan and Kay Margaret Lyons (2013). Beads: Journal of the Society of Bead
Researchers 25:102; https://journals.oregondigital.org/beads/article/view/6356.

2018 Review of Not Just for Show: The Archaeology of Beads, Beadwork and Personal
Ornaments, edited by Daniella E. Bar-Yosef Mayer, Clive Bonsall, and Alice M. Choyke
(2018). Beads: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers 30:77-78;
https://journals.oregondigital.org/beads/article/view/6373.

Koivula, J.I.
2003 Photomicrography for Gemologists. Gems & Gemology 39(1):4-23;
https://www.gia.edu/doc/Photomicrography-for-Gemologists.pdf.
Good basic information for anyone wanting to take microphotographs of transparent objects like
beads.

Krzyszkowska, Olga
1990 Ivory and Related Materials: An Illustrated Guide. Institute of Classical Studies, Bulletin
Supplement 59, Classical Handbook 3.
This excellent handbook helps to distinguish between beads and other objects made of ivory
(elephant, mammoth, and hippo), boar’s tusk, bone, and antler. Many diagnostic tests and
photographs are provided.

Kubicka, Anna Maria, Zuzanna M. Rosin, Piotr Tryjanowski, and Emma Nelson
2016 A Systematic Review of Natural Processes in Creating Pierced Shells: Implications for
the Archaeological Record. PeerJ Preprints; https://peerj.com/articles/2903/.
Concludes that variation in hole location on shells pierced by humans is greater than variation in
the placement of holes created by natural processes. These patterns are opposite to those
expected. Consequently, research into shell beads recovered from archaeological contexts should
take into account non-anthropogenic factors which may lead to more realistic scenarios of the
cultural behaviors of prehistoric people.

Kuhn, Steven L.
2014 Signaling Theory and Technologies of Communication in the Paleolithic. Biological
Theory 9:42-50; https://www.academia.edu/15402668/.
Argues that changes in the types of materials (including beads and pendants) used for signaling
by Paleolithic humans are evidence of a series of transitions in how early humans employed
signaling media to coordinate action and mediate conflict within ever larger and more
differentiated societies.

Kuhn, Steven L. and Mary C. Stiner

2006 Les Parures au Paléolithique. Enjeux congnities, démographiques et identitaires. Diogene
214:47-58; https://www.academia.edu/971043/.
Discusses several aspects of Paleolithic ornaments in Eurasia.

2007 Body Ornamentation as Information Technology: Toward an Understanding of the

Significance of Early Beads. In Rethinking the Human Revolution: New Behavioural and
Biological Perspectives on the Origin and Dispersal of Modern Humans, edited by P.
Mellars et al., pp. 45-54. McDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge.
https://www.academia.edu/944232/.
Examines the nature of beads as elements of technologies for transmitting information during the
Paleolithic. The authors use the concept of “performance characteristics” to isolate specific
properties of beads as relevant to information technologies, and consider how they contrast with
other, older technologies that may have been based exclusively on pigments.

Langley, Michelle C.
2015 Symbolic Material Culture in Human Evolution: Use in Prehistory, Appearance in the
Archaeological Record and Taphonomy. In The Genesis of Creativity and the Origin of
the Human Mind, edited by Barbora Putová and Václav Soukup, pp. 57-75. Karolinum
Press, Prague. https://www.academia.edu/15125212/.
By focusing on four specific material culture categories ! body ornamentation (beads included),
hunting weaponry, mobiliary art and rock art – this article not only outlines how symbolic
material culture may have been used during the late Pleistocene by human communities but also
highlights the problems associated in interpreting their presence (and absence) from the
archaeological record.

Lankton, James W.
2002 Review of Asia’s Maritime Bead Trade: 300 B.C. to the Present, by Peter Francis, Jr.
(2002). Beads: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers 14:81-84;
https://surface.syr.edu/beads/vol14/iss1/11/.

Lankton, James W., Joyce Diamanti, and Jonathan M. Kenoyer

2003 A Bead Timeline, Vol. 1. Prehistory to 1200 CE: A Resource for Identification,
Classification and Dating. The Bead Museum, Washington, DC.
https://www.academia.edu/557794/.
Presents a well-illustrated timeline for the world’s beads to 1200 CE with explanatory text. See
Wood (2003) for a review.
Leigh, Barbara
2020 Review of Journal: Borneo International Beads Conference 2019, edited by Heidi
Munan and Anita MacGillivray (2019). Beads: Journal of the Society of Bead
Researchers 32:102-103. https://journals.oregondigital.org/beads/article/view/6382.

Lester, Katherine and Bess Viola Oerke

2004 Accessories of Dress: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Dover, Mineola, NY.
Chapter 15 of this work originally published in 1940 deals with European “Beads and Necklace”
from antiquity to the present.

Liu, Robert K.
1994 Photographing Beads. Ornament 17(4):91-95.
Contains useful tips on equipment, lighting, and arrangement.

1995 Collectible Beads: A Universal Aesthetic. Ornament, Vista, CA.

Gorgeous color photos and authoritative text celebrate ancient, ethnographic, and contemporary
beads. The author treats beads as a revealing and inspiring symbol of the cultural and spiritual
aspirations of every major ethnic group and geographical region. See Karklins (1994) and
Tomalin (1998) for a review.

1998-1999 Stone Beads and their Imitations. Beads: Journal of the Society of Bead
Researchers 10-11:13-18; https://www.academia.edu/24325586/.
Examines the variety of imitation stone beads with information on how they are made, and how
to distinguish them, using mainly visual clues.

1999 Breast Beads. Ornament 23(2):70-71, 73.

Mammiform pendants and beads from Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Brief, sometimes
necessarily speculative, survey of Paleolithic, Minoan, and modern ethnographic examples.

2000 Comparisons of Ancient Faience Ornaments. Ornament 23(3): 56-61.

The first of two articles on faience; examples come from ancient Egypt, Chad, Mali, Syria,
Afghanistan, Crimea, the Indus Valley, and China, with a question mark attached to faience of
European origin. The bibliography is extensive.

2007 Photography of Glass Ornaments: Methods and Uses. Ornament 30(5):60-66.

2009 Faience: Its Versatility and Variability. Ornament 32(4):40-47.

This is an exhaustive treatment of faience, its composition, and where it is found, both
archaeologically and ethnographically. Abundant illustrations cover a wide range of ancient
Egyptian faience beads and ornaments, and also show a comparative range of faience from Iran,
Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey, India, Pakistan, Thailand, China, Chad, Mali, and Europe.
2010 Beads: Prehistory to Early Twenty-First Century. Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and
Fashion. Vol. 10: Global Perspectives, edited by Joanne B. Eicher, pp. 33-46. Oxford
University Press, Oxford.
An overview of beads through time.

2012 Islamic Glass Beads: The Well-Traveled Ornament. Ornament 36(1):58-63, 70;
https://www.academia.edu/36642491/.
Focuses on glass eye beads with wavy trailing, segmented foil beads, folded beads, pierced
mosaic beads, and the so-called Fustat fused-rod beads. Their manufacture and the role of
itinerant beadmakers are discussed.

2014 Photography of Personal Adornment. Ornament, San Marcos, CA.

A thorough guide on how to photograph jewelry and small ornaments such as beads and
pendants. Well illustrated with examples. See Scherer (2015) for a review.

Liu, Robert K., Sage Holland, and Tom Holland

2017 Ancient Nubian Face Beads: The Problem with Suppositions. Ornament 40(2):34-39;
https://www.academia.edu/36498456/.
The study of several face beads from a site in Nubia presents a compelling case for the
supposition that all forms of facial images for early face beads were derived from a Gorgon cane,
adapted by beadmakers into Medusa and numerous other variations. Much comparative material.

Lord, A.
2001 Deterioration of Glass Beads on an Edwardian Evening Bodice. In Ethnographic
Beadwork: Aspects of Manufacture, Use, and Conservation, edited by Margot M. Wright,
pp. 127-132. Archetype Publications, London.
Glass disease.

Lougheed, Sandra
1987 Deteriorating Glass Beads on Ethnographic Objects: Symptoms and Conservation. In
Symposium 1986. The Care and Preservation of Ethnological Materials: Proceedings,
edited by Robert Barclay, M. Gilberg, J.C. McCawley, and T. Stone, pp. 109-113.
Canadian Conservation Institute, Ottawa.
Describes the symptoms of “glass disease” and provides preventative conservation techniques to
retard the deterioration process.

Lovell, Adam
2006 Glass Bead Deterioration of Ethnographic Objects: Identification, Prevention, and
Treatment. M.A. thesis. Museum Studies, John F. Kennedy University, Pleasant Hill,
CA.
An in-depth study of glass disease as it relates to beads.
Ludvik, Geoffrey E., Thomas J. Dobbins, and J. Mark Kenoyer
2020 A New Way to Study Ancient Bead Workshop Traditions: Shape Analysis Using
Elliptical Fourier Transforms. Beads: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers 32:84-
95; https://www.academia.edu/74316820/.
A new analytical methodology using trigonometric functions of Elliptical Fourier transforms
(EFTs) is presented for studying morphometric proportions of stone beads using examples from
modern India and the ancient Southern Levant and Afghanistan.

Lundquist, Halvard Kaarby

2024 Typologisk bruk av perler i arkeologi: en analyse av tidligere arbeid, samt forslag til
videre framgangsmåte. B.A. thesis. Institutt for historiske og klassiske studier, NTNU,
Trondheim. https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3137483.
Discusses and compares several more-or-less effective bead typologies and suggests what a
standardized typology might look like.

Macul, Louise M.
2018 Review of Journal: Borneo International Beads Conference 2017, edited by Heidi
Munan and Anita MacGillivray (eds.). Beads: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers
30:83-85; https://journals.oregondigital.org/beads/article/view/6377.

Mårtensson, Linda, Eva Andersson, Marie-Louise Nosch, and Anne Batzer

2006 Experimental Archaeology: Part 2:2 Whorl or Bead? University of Copenhagen, Centre
for Textile Research, Technical Report.
https://ctr.hum.ku.dk/research-programmes-and-projects/previous-programmes-and-proje
cts/tools/technical_report_2-2__experimental_arcaheology.pdf
Experiments to spin thread using Bronze Age “beads” challenge the belief that perforated objects
weighing less than 10 g are too light to be used as spindle whorls.

Mattson, Hannah V. (ed.)

2021 Personal Adornment and the Construction of Identity: A Global Archaeological
Perspective. Oxbow Books, Oxford. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv24q4z2g.
This volume contains 11 articles that deal with bodily adornment around the world. Articles that
deal specifically with beads and pendants are listed in the other bibliographies.

McBrearty, Sally and Alison S. Brooks

2000 The Revolution that Wasn’t: A New Interpretation of the Origin of Modern Human
Behavior. Journal of Human Evolution 39:453-563;
https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.2000.0435.
Beads and other ornaments enter into the discussion.
McKinley, Jacqueline I.
1994 A Pyre and Grave Goods in British Cremation Burials: Have We Missed Something?
Antiquity 68:132-134; https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00046275.
A plea for the analysis of cremated bone. Glass adhering to bone can reveal the presence of now
vanished glass beads and the disposition of these can clarify the layout of the body.

Moretti, Cesare, Bernard Gratuze, and Sandro Hreglich

2013 Le verre aventurine (« avventurina ») : son histoire, les recettes, les analyses, sa
fabrication / Goldstone or Aventurine Glass: History, Recipes, Analyses, and
Manufacture. ArcheoSciences: Revue d’archéométrie 37:135-154;
https://www.academia.edu/65826698/.
Colored with minute flakes of copper, aventurine was probably discovered accidentally at the
beginning of the 17th century in a Murano glass factory. This article evaluates ancient recipes
and chemical analyses to propose a technical interpretation of the production process.

Moretti, Gianni
2005 The Chevron Bead: History and Technology of the World Best Known Venetian Bead.
Revista della Stazione Sperimentale del Vetro 35(1):40-47.

Moro Abadía, Oscar and April Nowell

2014 Palaeolithic Personal Ornaments: Historical Development and Epistemological
Challenges. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 22:952-979;
https://www.academia.edu/10818015/.
Explores the history and epistemology of the concept of “ornament” (beads and pendants) in the
field of Paleolithic archaeology. In particular, the authors analyze the factors underlying why the
same kinds of objects have been historically described in very diverse ways.

Morozova, E.A., I.F. Kadikova, T.V. Yuryeva, and V.A. Yuryev

2017 Crystallites in Color Glass Beads of the 19th Century and Their Influence on Fatal
Deterioration of Glass. 7th International Advances in Applied Physics and Materials
Science Congress & Exhibition, April 22-26, 2017, Turkey.
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1705.08330.
Blue-green lead-potassium glass beads from Russian museums were studied to determine why
they were deteriorating.

Morris, Carole
1998-1999 Review of Beads and Beadmakers: Gender, Material Culture and Meaning,
edited by Lidia D. Sciama and Joanne B. Eicher (1998). Beads: Journal of the
Society of Bead Researchers 10-11:67-68;
https://journals.oregondigital.org/beads/article/view/6312.
Munan, Heidi and Kay Margaret Lyons (eds.)
2013 Journal: Borneo International Beads Conference 2013. Crafthub, Kuching, Sarawak,
Malaysia.
The bulk of the articles deal with Asian beads and beadwork, but there are also two that deal
with African material and another that surveys the various organic materials that have been used
to produce beads in various parts of the world. The individual papers are listed in the relevant
sections of this bibliography. See Karklins (2013) for a review.

Munan, Heidi and Anita MacGillivray (eds.)

2015 Journal: Borneo International Beads Conference 2015. Crafthub, Kuching, Sarawak,
Malaysia.
Presents nine papers that deal with beads and beadwork from various cultures around the world,
ancient and contemporary. The individual papers are listed in the relevant sections of this
bibliography. See Armstrong (2015) for a review.

2017 Journal: Borneo International Beads Conference 2017. Crafthub, Kuching, Sarawak,
Malaysia.
Contains ten papers that deal with beads and beadwork from various cultures around the world.
The individual papers are listed in the relevant sections of this bibliography. Reviewed by Macul
(2018).

2019 Journal: Borneo International Beads Conference 2019. Crafthub, Kuching, Sarawak,
Malaysia.
This conference had as its theme “Beads of our Time” and the papers presented covered a wide
range of topics from Viking beads to beadmaking in India and Borneo using glass and sago-
processing residue, respectively. See Leigh (2020) for a review.

Munan, Heidi and Freya Martin (eds.)

2011 Journal: Borneo International Beads Conference 2011. Crafthub, Kuching, Sarawak,
Malaysia.
While most of the papers deal with beads and beadwork of Southeast Asia, a good portion relate
to other cultures around the world. The individual papers are listed in the relevant sections of this
bibliography. See Bernbaum (2012) for a review.

Munsell Color
2012 Munsell Bead Color Book. Pantone/Munsell, Grand Rapids, MI.
This consists of a loose-leaf binder with 10 pages of color chips with color names that record all
the colors encountered in North American archaeological bead collections. It is a handy tool for
identifying bead colors and only a fraction of the cost of the full Munsell Book of Color. See
Carey (2012) for a review.
Ngan-Tillard, D.J.M., D.J. Huisman, F. Corbella, and A. Van Nass
2018 Over the Rainbow? Micro-CT Scanning to Non-destructively Study Roman and Early
Medieval Glass Bead Manufacture. Journal of Archaeological Science 98:7-21;
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2018.07.007.
Reports on the usefulness, as well as the limitations, of desktop Micro-CT scanners in the study
of bead production technology.

Nowell, April and Aurora Skala

2024 The Best Dressed Hominin: Clothing, Tanning, and Textile Production in the Paleolithic.
In Culturing the Body: Prehistoric Perspectives on Identity and Sociality, edited by
Benjamin Collins and April Nowell, pp. 236-274. Berghahn Books, New York.
The section on “Shells and Beads” presents a useful summary of beads of the Paleolithic,
especially their use in the adornment of garments and accessories.

O’Hern, Robin and Kelly McHugh

2013 Deterioration and Conservation of Unstable Glass Beads on Native American Objects.
The Bead Forum 63:1-2, 5-13; https://beadresearch.org/the-bead-forum-archive/.
Discusses glass disease and its treatment based on beaded objects in the collections of the
National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC.

2014 Red, Blue, and Wound All Over: Evaluating Condition Change and Cleaning of Glass
Disease on Beads. In Proceedings of the Objects Specialty Group Session 42nd Annual
Meeting in San Francisco, California, May 28-31, edited by Suzanne Davis, with Kari
Dodson and Emily Hamilton, pp. 205-228. Objects Specialty Group Postprints 21.
https://www.academia.edu/12965153/.
Presents the results of two surveys focused on the condition and treatment of deteriorated glass
beads in the collection of the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC.

Ovadia, Ahiad
2022 Adornment in Prehistory. In Adornment: Jewelry and Body Decoration in Prehistoric
Times, edited by Ahiad Ovadia, pp. 14-45. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
Presents a detailed overview of adornment phenomena in prehistory with emphasis on ornaments
(including beads) from the Levant.

Ovadia, Ahiad (ed.)

2022 Adornment: Jewelry and Body Decoration in Prehistoric Times. The Israel Museum,
Jerusalem.
This exhibition catalogue is devoted to the complex subject of identity (personal and social) in
human prehistory, as expressed through ornaments and jewelry. The contents include a detailed
overview of adornment phenomena in prehistory (Ahiad Ovadia); a summary of the relevant data
for the prehistoric Levant in an attempt to tackle the thorny issue of identifying social-cum-
ethnic characteristics of past societies (Daniella Bar-Yosef Mayer); and a discourse on the
“messages” embedded in the personal adornment of present-day hunter-gatherers and
horticulturalists (Polly Wiessner).

Pedersen, M. Campbell
2004 Gem and Ornamental Materials of Organic Origin. Elsevier, Oxford.
Extensive guide to the identification of materials as diverse as amber, jet, ivory, bone, antler,
rhino horn, horn, tortoiseshell, pearl, coral, and miscellaneous, which includes even more
materials. There is an excellent final section on plastics. See Tomalin (2004) for a review.

Poinar, G.
1996 Older and Wiser. Lapidary Journal 49(10):52-56.
Discusses the differences between amber (fossilized resin) and copal (dried resin), and
recommends simple hot-needle techniques to distinguish between them. Concludes that
Colombian “amber” is copal resin.

Saitowitz, Sharma J.
2001 Early Indian Ocean Glass Bead Trade between Egypt and Malaysia: A Pilot Study. In
Proceedings of the 16th Congress of the IPPA, July 1-7, 1998, Melaka, Malaysia.
Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 21: The Melaka Papers 5.

Scherer, Alice
2015 Review of Photography of Personal Adornment, by Robert K. Liu (2014 ). Beads:
Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers 27:76-77;
https://journals.oregondigital.org/beads/article/view/6361.

Sciama, Lidia D. and Joanne B. Eicher (eds.)

1998 Beads and Beadmakers: Gender, Material Culture and Meaning. Bloomsbury Academic,
London.
Deals with the techniques and gender aspects of beadmaking, the role in trade and adornment in
a wide range of societies from ancient Mediterranean through Renaissance Venice to present-day
Africa. Twelve papers explore the topic. See Barnes (1999) and Morris (1998-1999) for a
review.

Selin, Helaine (ed.)

2008 Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine in Non-Western
Cultures. 2nd ed. Springer, New York.
The section on “Beads” presents an overview of beads through the ages.

Simpson, St John
2021 Etched or Bleached? Traded or Copied? Comments on the Dating and Distribution of a
Distinctive Type of Decorated Carnelian Bead Found from India to Eurasia from the
 Early 1st Millennium BC to the Early Medieval Period. In Masters of the Steppe: The
Impact of the Scythians and Later Nomad Societies of Eurasia: Proceedings of a
Conference Held at the British Museum, 27-29 October 2017, edited by Svetlana V.
Pankova and St John Simpson, pp. 525-543. Archaeopress, Oxford.
https://www.academia.edu/44959563/.
A highly distinctive class of decorated stone beads first made in the Indus region has been
referred to as “etched” but recent studies suggest it is an inappropriate designation and they
should instead be referred to as “bleached.”

Sirois, P.J.
1999 The Deterioration of Glass Trade Beads from Canadian Ethnographic and Textile
Collections. In The Conservation of Glass and Ceramics: Research, Practice, and
Training, edited by Norman H. Tennent, pp. 84-95. James and James, London.

Smith, Marvin T.
1990 Review of Proceedings of the 1986 Shell Bead Conference, edited by Charles F. Hayes
III (1989). Beads: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers 2:94-96;
https://surface.syr.edu/beads/vol2/iss1/10/.

Sode, Torben
1995 The Traditional Use of Magic Glass Beads in the Islamic World. In Glass Beads:
Cultural History, Technology, Experiment and Analogy, edited by M. Rasmussen, U.L.
Hansen, and U. Näsman, pp. 55-59. Historical-Archaeological Experimental Center,
Studies in Technology and Culture 2.

Sprague, Roderick
1989 Review of The History of Beads from 30,000 B.C. to the Present, by Lois Sherr Dubin
(1987). Beads: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers 1:95-96;
https://surface.syr.edu/beads/vol1/iss1/10/.

1994 Bead Typology: The Development of a Concept. In Pioneers in Historical Archaeology,

Breaking New Ground, edited by Stanley South, pp. 85-100. Plenum Press, New York.

Stiner, Mary C.
2014 Finding a Common Bandwidth: Causes of Convergence and Diversity in Paleolithic
Beads. Biological Theory (1):51-64; https://www.academia.edu/37046493/.
The Upper Paleolithic was a period of considerable regional differentiation in material culture,
yet there is remarkable consistency in the dominant shapes and sizes of Paleolithic beads over
more than 25,000 years and across vast areas, even though they were made from diverse
materials and, in the case of mollusc shells, diverse taxonomic families.
Taºtemür, Emre
2017 Glass Pendants in Tekirdað and Edirne Museums. Anatolia Antiqua XXV:53-56;
https://journals.openedition.org/anatoliaantiqua/pdf/439.
Discusses two head pendants of unknown provenience, but likely of Carthaginian origin.

Teichner, Felix
1997 Perlen des Glaubens: die Gebetschnur in Islam und Christentum. In Perlen: Archäologie,
Techniken, Analysen, edited by Uta von Freeden and Alfred Wieczorek, pp. 325-338.
Kolloquien zur Vor- und Frühgeschichte 1.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/210370613.
Reviews the origins and development of prayer beads from early sources. Perhaps they came
from India via the Arab conquest or via Oriental churches. In the Latin West, the rosary seems
not to predate the Crusades.

Then-Ob³uska, Joanna
2021 Typology of Glass Beads: Techniques, Shapes, Colours and Dimensions. In Ancient
Glass of South Asia: Archaeology, Ethnography and Global Connections, edited by Alok
Kumar Kanungo and Laure Dussubieux, pp. 211-224. Springer Nature, Singapore.
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-16-3656-1_8.
A typology based on production techniques exhibited by specimens from Roman and Late
Antique Northeast Africa, as well as contemporary South Asia.

Tite, M.S. and A.J. Shortland

2008 Production Technology of Faience and Related Early Vitreous Materials. Oxford
University School of Archaeology Monograph 72. https://www.academia.edu/11588854/.
Provides an overview of faience production in Europe, the Near East, and the Indus Valley.
Beads enter into the discussion, including their chemical composition.

Tomalin, Stefany
1993 Review of Beads of the World: A Collector’s Guide with Price Reference, by Peter
Francis, Jr. (1994). Beads: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers 5:61-63;
https://journals.oregondigital.org/beads/article/view/6289.

1998 Review of Collectible Beads: A Universal Aesthetic, by Robert K. Liu (1995). Bead
Study Trust Newsletter 31:12;
https://www.societyofjewelleryhistorians.ac.uk/bead_study_trust.

2004 Review of Gem and Ornamental Materials of Organic Origin, by M. Campbell Pedersen
(2004). Beads: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers 16:69-70;
https://journals.oregondigital.org/beads/article/view/6328.
2013 Opulence in Organic Bead Jewellery. Journal: Borneo International Beads Conference
2013:151-179.
Presents an overview of the various organic materials that have been used to produce beads
around the world.

2016 Beads: A History and Collector’s Guide. Amberley Publishing, Stroud.

Provides an introduction to beads of the world from ancient to modern. Well illustrated.

Tomlinson, Gary
2018 Culture and the Course of Human Evolution. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Offers a new model for understanding the emergence of modern Homo sapiens, one based on
analysis of advancing human cultures in an evolution that was simultaneously cultural and
biological – a biocultural evolution. Beads enter into the discussion.

Topping, Jane M.
1989 An Introduction to Molluscs and their Identification. In Proceedings of the 1986 Shell
Bead Conference, edited by Charles F. Hayes III, pp. 7-11. Rochester Museum and
Science Center, Research Records 20.
Presents a brief introduction to molluscs and their identification to assist researchers in analyzing
molluscan material encountered in the course of archaeological and ethnological studies.

Trubitt, Mary Beth D.

2003 The Production and Exchange of Marine Shell Prestige Goods. Journal of
Archaeological Research 11(3):243-277; https://www.jstor.org/stable/41053199.
Approaches the subject from a worldwide perspective. Shell beads enter into the discussion.

Vanhaeren, M. and F. d’Errico

2011 L’émergence du corps paré: Objets corporels paléolithiques. Civilisations 59(2):59-86;
https://doi.org/10.4000/civilisations.2589.
Attempts to identify the function of personal ornaments in Paleolithic societies and understand
the role of these objects in the earliest known symbolic cultures.

Walder, Heather and Laure Dussubieux

2022 Technology, Chronology, and Exchange Examined through Glass Beads. In The
Elemental Analysis of Glass Beads: Technology, Chronology and Exchange, edited by
Laure Dussubieux and Heather Walder, pp. 383-390. Studies in Archaeological Sciences,
Leuven University Press, Leuven. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2z9fzr0.24.
The title says it all.
Walz, Jonathan R.
2014 Trade Beads in Historical Archaeology. In Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, edited
by Claire Smith, pp. 7370-7372. Springer, New York.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_1421.
Provides an overview of trade beads around the world during the past 500 years.

Watkinson, D. and V. Neal

1998 First Aid for Finds: Practical Guide for Archaeologists. Rescue (British Archaeological
Trust) and the Archaeology Section of the U.K. Institute for Conservation, London.
Recent edition of a work first published in 1972, brought up to date with much new information.
Descriptions of many bead materials and their decay processes with instructions regarding
treatment and storage.

Webster, Jane
2023 Materializing the Middle Passage: A Historical Archaeology of British Slave Shipping,
1680-1807. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Chapter 7 contains sections on “Beads for the Slave Trade” and “Shipping Beads: Evidence from
the Shipwrecks.”

Werner, Ute, Lyndsie S. Selwyn, Tom Stone, W. Ross McKinnon, Anne MacKay, and Tara
Grant
2012 The Removal of Metal Soaps from Brass Beads on a Leather Belt. Studies in
Conservation 57(1):3-20; https://www.academia.edu/91081036/.
Details the cleaning of a Piegan beaded belt, as well as the effects of the corrosion process on the
beads and the surrounding organic materials.

Wood, Marcus
2016 Cowrie Shells: Slavery and Global Trade. In Slavery in Small Things: Slavery and
Modern Cultural Habits, edited by James Walvin, pp. 37-53. John Wiley & Sons,
Hoboken, NJ. https://www.academia.edu/92063880/.
The cowrie shell provides an avenue through which to explore the complex economic and
geographic enormity that was the Atlantic slaving system.

Wood, Marilee
2003 Review of A Bead Timeline, Vol. 1. Prehistory to 1200 CE: A Resource for Identification,
Classification and Dating, by J. Lankton, J. Diamanti, and J.M. Kenoyer (2003). Beads:
Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers 15:76-79;
https://journals.oregondigital.org/beads/article/view/6326.

Yang, Bin
2011 The Rise and Fall of Cowrie Shells: The Asian Story. Journal of World History 22(1):1-
25; https://www.jstor.org/stable/23011676.
By focusing on Chinese, Indian, and Southeast Asian societies, this article illustrates the
significance of cowrie shells in a cross-regional context, analyzes the transformation of their
functions over the longue durée, and discusses some local and global issues, such as why cowrie
shells failed to develop into a common currency in early China.

Zilhão, João
2007 The Emergence of Ornaments and Art: An Archaeological Perspective on the Origins of
“Behavioral Modernity.” Journal of Archaeological Research 15(1):1-54;
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226864910.
A study of the earliest beads and other items of adornment from Paleolithic sites in Africa,
Europe, Central Asia, and the Near East. Extensive bibliography.