Not Just for Show : The Archaeology of Beads, Beadwork, and Personal Ornaments

Beads, beadwork, and personal ornaments are made of diverse materials such as shell, bone, stones, minerals, and composite materials. Their exploration from geographical and chronological settings around the world offers a glimpse at some of the cutting edge research within the fast growing field of personal ornaments in humanities’ past. Recent studies are based on a variety of analytical procedures that highlight humankind’s technological advances, exchange networks, mortuary practices, and symbol-laden beliefs. Papers discuss the social narratives behind bead and beadwork manufacture, use and disposal; the way beads work visually, audibly and even tactilely to cue wearers and audience to their social message(s). Understanding the entangled social and technical aspects of beads require a broad spectrum of technical and methodological approaches including the identification of the sources for the raw material of beads. These scientific approaches are also combined in some instances with experimentation to clarify the manner in which beads were produced and used in past societies. Frontcover 1 Title 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 List of Contributors 8 1 Introduction: The Archaeology of Beads,Beadwork and Personal Ornaments 10 Part 1 Socio-Cultural Reflections 14 2 Traditions and Change in Scaphopod Shell Beads in Northern Australia from the Pleistocene to the Recent Past 16 3 Magdalenian “Beadwork Time” in the Paris Basin (France): Correlation between Personal Ornaments and the Function of Archaeological Sites 28 4 Personal Adornment and Personhood among the Last Mesolithic Foragers of the Danube Gorges in the Central Balkans and Beyond 48 5 Ornamental Shell Beads as Markers of Exchange in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B of the Southern Levant 78 6 Games, Exchange, and Stone: Hunter-Gatherer Beads at Home 90 Part 2 Audio and Visual Social Cues 102 7 The Natufian Audio-Visual Bone Pendants from Hayonim Cave 104 8 Bead Biographies from Neolithic Burial Contexts: Contributions from the Microscope 112 9 The Tutankhamun Beadwork: An Introduction to Archaeological Beadwork Analysis 124 Part 3 Methodological Approaches 136 10 A Mother-of-Pearl Shell Pendant from Nexpa, Morelos 138 11 Detailing the Bead-Maker: Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) of Steatite Disk Beads from Prehistoric Napa Valley, California 145 Part 4 Experimentation and Technology 166 12 Experimental Replication of Stone, Bone and Shell Beads from Early Neolithic Sites in Southeast Europe 168 13 The Reproduction of Small Prehistoric Tusk Shell Beads 177 Socio-cultural Reflections -- Audio And Visual Social Cues -- Methodological Approaches -- Experimentation And Technology. Edited By Daniella E. Bar-yosef Mayer, Clive Bonsall And Alice M. Choyke. Includes Bibliographical References. Major new series of studies combining latest scientific analysis techniques with archaeological data in a series of case studies covering technological, social and symbolic attributes of beads in prehistoric cultures.