Glass bead trade in Northeast Africa : the evidence from Meroitic and post-Meroitic Nubia / Joanna Then-Obłuska, with Barbara Wagner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Then-Obłuska, Joanna, author.

Wagner, Barbara, author.

Contributor:

George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Series:

PAM monograph series (Uniwersytet Warszawski. Centrum Archeologii Śródziemnomorskiej im. Kazimierza Michałowskiego) ; 10.

PAM monograph series ; 10

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Glass beads--Africa, Northeast--Catalogs.

Glass beads.

Glass beads--Nubia--Catalogs.

Glass--Analysis.

Glass.

Africa, Northeast--Commerce--History.

Africa, Northeast.

Nubia--Antiquities--Catalogs.

Nubia.

Antiquities.

Commerce.

Africa--Nubia.

Northeast Africa.

Genre:

Catalogs.

History.

Physical Description:

315 pages : color illustrations, maps ; 30 cm

Place of Publication:

Warsaw : Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology ; Warszawa : University of Warsaw Press, [2019]

Summary:

Strings of colorful glass beads were a popular commodity traded throughout ancient Nubia in the earlier half of the first millennium AD. Combining macroscopic examination with laboratory analyses, the author breaks new ground in Nubian studies, establishing diagnostic markers for a study of trading markets and broader economic trends in Meroitic and post-Meroitic Nubia.00Archaeometric results, lucidly presented and discussed, identify the origins of the glass from which the beads under investigation were made. The demonstrated South Indian/Sri Lankan provenance of some of the ready-made beads from Nubian burial contexts and a reconstruction of their distribution patterns in Northeast Africa is the first undisputed proof of contacts between Nubia and the Red Sea coast. Reaching beyond that, it shows Nubia?s involvement in the Asian maritime trade, whether directly or indirectly, during a period of intensive interchanges between the 4th and 6th centuries AD.

Contents:

Nubia in the Meroitic and post-Meroitic periods

Beads in Meroitic and post-Meroitic cultures: iconographic and contextual overview

Collections and archaeological contexts

Morphological description of glass samples

Chemistry of glass beads

Discussion of the glass groups and beads produced

Trade contacts in Northeast Africa

Conclusions

Catalog

Parallels.

Notes:

"Strings of colorful glass beads were a popular commodity traded throughout ancient Nubia in the earlier half of the first millennium AD. Combining macroscopic examination with laboratory analyses, the author breaks new ground in Nubian studies, establishing diagnostic markers for a study of trading markets and broader economic trends in Meroitic and post-Meroitic Nubia. Archaeometric results, lucidly presented and discussed, identify the origins of the glass from which the beads under investigation were made. The demonstrated South Indian/Sri Lankan provenance of some of the ready-made beads from Nubian burial contexts and a reconstruction of their distribution patterns in Northeast Africa is the first undisputed proof of contacts between Nubia and the Red Sea coast. Reaching beyond that, it shows Nubia's involvement in the Asian maritime trade, whether directly or indirectly, during a period of intensive interchanges between the 4th and 6th centuries AD."--Front flap

Includes bibliographical references (pages 300-311).

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

ISBN:

9788323538998

8323538999

OCLC:

1124977008