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A cultural connection found throughout all authentic African peoples group is the neck collar. Unquestionably a connection between all the African people is this one artifact they all share in common:
Compare Afrigyptian pictures with neck collars 4 and 5 from 4,000 years ago to 6.
The use of the multiple strands of bead as diadems (forerunners to gold crowns) goes back 25,000 years; see picture 1 above
And picture 1 has something like 15,000 beads for not only the diadem but other body wear. Including a 25,000 year-old neck collar?
And picture 1 was written of by a Russian anthropologist teaching at Harvard who had the following to say about that being an African.
Valery Pavlovich Alexeev wrote: “The nose is very broad, similar to African or Australian. This strong development around the nose is not typical for Europoid but is similar to East African populations.
Does the jewelry you write of being worn by Africans go back 25,000 years?
Let's not forget or minimize the fact that beads are used in the pictures you show. Beads were used by Africans as jewelry 75,000 years ago:
posted
^ One of those rare occasions that Marc is correct.
The earliest signs of Modern Human ingenuity do date back over 70,000 years in Africa in the form of beaded jewelry.
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posted
The collar is found throughout most of Africa.
-------------------- Across the sea of time, there can only be one of you. Make you the best one you can be. Posts: 4028 | From: NW USA | Registered: May 2005
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One of Hatsheptsut's high officials along with Senmut the architect and Thutiy, her treasurer Nehusi, who is spoken of in her inscriptions as "Prince Chancellor, First Friend, Wearing the Collar. so it seems not every Tom,Dick or Harry get to wear the collar in Kemet.
Posts: 6546 | From: japan | Registered: Feb 2009
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posted
Those look kinda cool can you buy any of those here? Came to this thread cause it was mentioning jewelry and im interested in art history for the wiki cause I cant find that book i was told to go get. Ive also wanna but these necklaces NOW but ive never seen em
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World’s Oldest Manufactured Beads Are Older Than Previously Thought
ScienceDaily (May 5, 2009) — A team of archaeologists has uncovered some of the world’s earliest shell ornaments in a limestone cave in Eastern Morocco. The researchers have found 47 examples of Nassarius marine shells, most of them perforated and including examples covered in red ochre, at the Grotte des Pigeons at Taforalt. The fingernail-size shells, already known from 82,000-year-old Aterian deposits in the cave, have now been found in even earlier layers. While the team is still awaiting exact dates for these layers, they believe this discovery makes them arguably the earliest shell ornaments in prehistory. The shells are currently at the centre of a debate concerning the origins of modern behaviour in early humans. Many archaeologists regard the shell bead ornaments as proof that anatomically modern humans had developed a sophisticated symbolic material culture. Up until now, Blombos cave in South Africa has been leading the ‘bead race’ with 41 Nassarius shell beads that can confidently be dated to 72,000 years ago. Aside from this latest discovery unearthing an even greater number of beads, the research team says the most striking aspect of the Taforalt discoveries is that identical shell types should appear in two such geographically distant regions. As well as Blombos, there are now at least four other Aterian sites in Morocco with Nassarius shell beads. The newest evidence, in a paper by the authors to be published in the next few weeks in the Journal of Quaternary Science Reviews, shows that the Aterian in Morocco dates back to at least 110,000 years ago. Research team leader, Professor Nick Barton, from the Institute of Archaeology at the University of Oxford, said: ‘These new finds are exciting because they show that bead manufacturing probably arose independently in different cultures and confirms a long suspected pattern that humans with modern symbolic behaviour were present from a very early stage at both ends of the continent, probably as early as 110,000 years ago.’ Also leading the research team Dr Abdeljalil Bouzouggar, from the Institut National des Sciences de l’Archéologie et du Patrimoine in Morocco, said: ‘The archaeological and chronological contexts of the Taforalt discoveries suggest a much longer tradition of bead-making than previously suspected, making them perhaps the earliest such ornaments in the world.’ Archaeologists widely believe that humans in Europe first started fashioning purely symbolic objects about 40,000 years ago, but in Africa this latest evidence shows that humans were engaged in this activity at least 40,000 years before this. Excavations in April 2009 also continued in the upper levels of Taforalt to investigate a large well-preserved cemetery dating to around 12,500 years ago. The project, co-ordinated by Dr Louise Humphrey, from the Natural History Museum in London, has found adult as well as infant burials at the site. The infant burials throw an interesting light on early burial traditions as many of the infants seem to be buried singly beneath distinctive blue stones with the undersides smeared with red ochre. By contrast, studies by Dr Elaine Turner of the Römisch Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Mainz, show that the adults’ grave pits were generally marked by the horn cores of wild barbary sheep. Taforalt remains the largest necropolis of the Late Stone Age period in North Africa presently under excavation. Professor Barton said: ‘Taking our new discovery of the shell beads at Taforalt, together with the discoveries of the decorated burials excavated by Dr Louise Humphrey, it shows that the cave must have retained its special interest for different groups of people over many thousands of years. One of its unique attractions and a focal point of interest seems to have been a freshwater spring that rises next to the cave.’
. Cowrie shell beads and Bone Beads are thought to be among the first types of beads used for trade purposes within Africa, until the 4th Century B.C when glass beads found their way into Africa from Egypt and Western Europe.
Evidence of the glass bead production which dominated the African economies for nearly 700 years has been found within both Egypt and South Africa, dating back to the 9th Century. These minuscule beads were woven into the opulent collars, head-dresses and robes worn by Royal family members, courtiers and those of nobility. Burial sites such as the Valley of The Kings have allowed us to uncover a significant wealth of jewelry and decorative artifacts which were made from glass. Glass beads also made their way into Africa from Portugal during the 4th Century, the unofficial beginning of Africa’s booming trade era.
It is not until the 12th Century that we see real evidence of glass bead production within the notable manufacturing areas of today, such as Ghana, the Krobo, Ethiopia and Nigeria. The methods used within this production are not dissimilar to those practiced today for Recycled Glass Bead production; where ground particles are compacted prior to firing. The early method is referred to as wet-core powder glass bead production and was a painstakingly slow process. Such beads allowed tribesmen to ply trade with neighboring regions, but were predominantly used for rituals, rites of passage ceremonies and holistic healing.
From the 14th Century, explorers began landing upon the shores of South Africa bringing with them colorful glass beads to trade for the safe passage through regions – and eventually for the riches of this foreign land which included palm oil, fur and spices. The market for slaves is also thought to have developed during these early years, and would soon become fundamental in boosting Africa’s regional economies. The production of Africa’s currency began to increase within Venice during the 1500′s. Striped Chevrons were the most common product of this era, although Millefiori Beads found particular favor with African tribal chiefs during the close of the century. The Millefiori boom would last a further 400 years.
Africa’s “Golden Trade Era” stretches from 1700 to 1920; a period which saw the highest levels of trade and economy in history. Venetian Trade Beads were often referred to by their pseudonym “slave beads” due to the high value they realized in exchange for slaves. Doughnut and Pineapple shaped Chevron Beads with colors range from 4-12 in number were among the most common, however pale Venetian Ghosts, King Chevrons and Elbow Millefiori Beads were also among the most prized.
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Large rectangular beads were cut from the arca clamshell and worn by West African tribes.
Ostrich eggshell beads were made in South Africa as well as by the Turkana people in northern Kenya. Beads of this sort are still to be found on the continent.
Red coral from the Mediterranean became popular with tribes with access to it, such as the Berbers of Morocco. Much rarer black coral was found along the Sudanese coast.
Amber (resin from an ancient fossilized tree) from the Baltic was first traded to Africa by Arab merchants in the 7th century. Copal, a much more recent resin, was indigenous to both Senegal and Zanzibar.
It is not known whether this was formed into beads before or after true amber made its appearance on the continent.
The oldest stone-bead industry in Africa was in Nigeria, dating to the first millennium B.C. The beads were made of red jasper. In Mali, beads have been cut from granite, green amazonite and agate for centuries.
In Ghana, beads are still being made from bauxite, an aluminium ore collected in Niger.
As for East Africa, carnelian shavings have been found in archaeological digs along our coastline, indicating a stone bead-making industry dating back to the 9th century A.D. The raw material, however, was probably imported from India.
It is not known when metal bead-manufacturing began in Africa.
There may have been large deposits of silver in Ethiopia, leading to a superb crafts industry there. Supplies were later supplemented by the importation of a large coin from Austria, known as the Maria Theresa thaler (dollar), after the empress who ruled Austria from 1740 to 1780.
Goldmines in the Land of Punt (now Somalia) supplied ancient Egyptian jewellers, and gold is still to be found in the Darfur Region. Gold was also used for bead-making in Ghana, Senegal and the Ivory Coast, and was often worn by rulers and other potentates.
Tin beads have been found in Nigeria dating to the first millennium B.C. By the 8th century, Nigerian metal smiths were making brass and bronze beads and ornaments using the "lost wax" method of casting. Iron beads have been made by the Turkana in north-western Kenya for many generations. Today, Borana tinsmiths in northern Kenya make small beads from recycled aluminium cooking pots.
The history of glass beads is difficult to trace. Some of the earliest came from Egypt, made of "faience" - the predecessor of modern glass.
Archaeologists have uncovered in excavations along the East African coast small monochromatic glass beads, now known to have come from southern India. These cover a period from the 12th century to approximately 1850.
It seems these beads were then mass produced on the island of Zanzibar, using long uncut glass "canes" from Tamil Nadu.
The first glass-bead manufacturing centre within Africa is thought to be Mapungubwe in South Africa. Beads found here date from A.D. 600 to A.D. 1200.
By the 16th century, glass-bead manufacturing centred in Bida (Nigeria), and also in south-eastern Ghana, as well as in the central Ashanti area. These beads were made in clay moulds, using finely-powdered glass made by recycling imported bottles and jars.
Meanwhile, in Europe, large-scale bead-making centres had evolved. The oldest was founded in Venice - possibly as far back as the 13th century.
Later, the industry spread to Germany, Holland and Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), and to a smaller extent, France.
Venice, Germany, Holland and Bohemia engaged in a highly lucrative trade with Africa, exchanging beads for such items as gold, ivory, palm oil, coconut oil and incense.
Beads later became a major exchange commodity in the slave trade, which lasted for 450 years. It is estimated that many millions of European glass beads were traded during this dark period of African history. When the railway was constructed in Zimbabwe in 1901/2, workers were paid in beads which became known as the traina bead. In 1910, blue Dutch glass beads were taken by witchdoctors to the top of the Matopo Hills as an offering to God, to whom they prayed for good relationships with Cecil Rhodes and British settlers.
Other beads were offered to chiefs by white explorers when seeking permission to travel through tribal territories.
Many trade beads became part of costume and adornment. Dark pink Venetian glass beads dating to 1830 found their way to the Samburu of northern Kenya, whilst blue annular beads are still worn by Borana elders during special ceremonies.
Dating beads is difficult, but Bead Museums and private collections yield useful information, and ship's logs give us data on cargoes of beads.
The picture today is a blending of old and new. Powdered glass beads are still produced in Ghana, using age-old methods, and brass beads are still being made in the Ivory Coast. Borana tinsmiths continue to make beads from cooking pots. Traditions are timeless in Africa.
In East Africa, most beads are imported ones. A large selection of glass and semi-precious stone beads comes from India, probably the world's largest bead producer.
Up until 1976, all small glass beads used in traditional tribal beadwork were imported from Italy. By 1976, the Italian bead-manufacturing industry had shrunk dramatically, and the Czech Republic now dominates the mass-produced glass bead scene. New bead-making industries have arisen. Kitengela Glass (on the outskirts of Nairobi National Park) make large glass beads in a wide range of colours.
Nairobi is full of beads made of horn and bone, the most sophisticated being produced by Maro Designs. Paper beads flood the markets in a wide variety of colour, shape and size.
Mankind still thirsts for beautification and adornment. Is it old or new? Is it Italian or Czech? Were these made in Ghana, or did the come from India? My advice is that if you like it, buy it. Remember, today's "new" is tomorrow's antique. One day, it will all be History!
Rhodia Mann is a jewelry designer, writer, ethnographer, bead historian and a former owner of Gallery Watatu in Nairobi.
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