The gold beads from Tumna, Co. Roscommon (original) (raw)
Related papers
Horace C. Beck -- Classification and Nomenclature of Beads and Pendants
BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers, 2006
The year 2006 marks the 80th anniversary of the presentation of a “Classification and Nomenclature of Beads and Pendants” by Horace C. Beck to the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1926. It was subsequently published in the society’s journal Archaeologia in 1928 (vol. 77, pp. 1-76). While it is somewhat out of date, it nevertheless remains a classic in its field and is still the only comprehensive work that deals with the classification of beads of complex shapes and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 version presented here 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.
THE EYE BEADS – AMULETS OF WARRIORS OF THE 3 RD -1 ST CENTURIES BC
The large eye beads, found in numbers one to three, were excavated at scarce barbarian sites of the North Pontic region (Tchisten'ke, Glinoe, Găvani). They were usually located near horse or human skeletons. All beads are dated to the 3 rd-1 st cent. BC and similar in their color, design, shape, dimensions, and eye structure. The closest parallels to them are the beads from the cemeteries of the 3 rd-2 nd c. BC near stanitsas Tenginskaya, Sereginskaya, and Novolabinskaya in the NorthWest Caucasus. A comparative analysis shows that this kind of beads is connected to a particular horse harness from the sites. The harness' characteristic details include the bronze frontlets and breastplate sheets with pendants, and also the harsh bits with mouthpieces of cruciform shape; most likely, the eye beads were attached to the bridle and served as amulets. The horse harness of the described type was used in the 3 rd-2 nd c. BC by the NorthWest Caucasian barbarians (their tribal identification is problematic). The finds in the North Pontic region probably reflect migration of a group of these barbarians to the West. Among the objects from the rare barbarian sites in the North Pontic region dated to the Late Hellenistic period one can find items that at first could look ordinary but their analysis led to the unexpected and interesting results. The North Pontic beads of a large variety are found in numbers from one to three near the horse skeleton, on the human skeleton, or nearby. They have been discovered in the kurgan grave near the village of Tchisten'ke in Crimea
The 17th Dynasty gold necklace from Qurneh, Egypt
Archéosciences, 2009
In 1908, the archaeologist Flinders Petrie discovered a rich intact burial of an adult and child at Qurneh, near Luxor. Stylistically, the burial has been dated to the late 17th Dynasty, in the 16th century BC. The complete burial group came to Edinburgh in 1909. A recent examination of the rings of the necklace found with the adult burial is presented as part of a wider study of the mummy collections of the National Museums Scotland (NMS). The necklace shows sophisticated workmanship, with 1,699 rings threaded onto four strands, the rings having uniform diameter and thickness, and very few of them showing any visible joints. The necklace rings have been examined by Optical Microscopy, X-radiography, Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDS), air-path X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), and proton induced X-ray analysis (micro-PIXE). We summarise these findings and propose the method of manufacture. We also describe an experimental attempt to make joint-less rings in order to compare them with the originals.
GOLD EARRINGS FROM THE FIRST COLLECTIONS OF THE "MUSEUM CAUCASICUM" 1
History, Archaeology, Ethnology, 2023
The present paper is an introduction of the research on gold earrings from the first collections of the ,,Museum Caucasicum". Earrings from five different places of the Caucasus region-Samtavro cemetery (Iberia), Digora, Stavropol, Divnoe and Prokhladny (North Caucasus) dated to the 2 nd-8 th centuries AD prevail in the total number of artifacts entering the first collections and taking into account the parallels found on other monuments allow drawing certain conclusions. As a result of the conducted studies, the following was determined: chronology; typology, cultural attribution, distribution area and chemical-technological details of items. Earrings typologically belong to two groups: 1. One-piece earrings, with rosettes, beads and pendants fixed or cast on the hoop of the earring, and 2. Two-piece earrings, which are represented with beads and pendants movably, hung on the hoop. Since all earrings were found by chance and their archaeological context is unknown, their dating was done according to similar, already dated material found in the cemeteries of Eastern Georgia and the North Caucasus. The metallographic analysis of gold earrings was carried out in the Institute of Restoration and Conservation of the Georgian National Museum using the non-destructive spectrometer (ElvaX ProSpector). According to received results exact composition of each earring was determined. Earrings are diverse both in terms of forms and artistic processing, but they repeat the general trends of goldsmithing prevalent in the Late Roman-Prefeudal period, which can be observed, on the one hand, in various cemeteries of this period in Eastern Georgia and North Caucasus.
The article introduces the results of the study of beads originating from Dubrovskiy burial ground – one of the new sites of the Mazunino time in the Middle Kama region. The collection of beads from the Dubrovskiy burial ground contained 3018 beads, and 2992 of them were used for classification and divided into 32 types. The authors offer descriptions of beads and the findings of the quantitative analysis of their frequency in graves, as well as their location related to the buried body. Specific uses of beads by male and female groups of the paleopopulation who left this necropolis is considered. The beads are found almost in every third burial. While more than half of them contained 1–3 beads, almost one fifth of the burials had more than a hundred beads. The big number of beads, as a rule, is associated with female head dresses, which were decorated by 1–2 rows of bead strings along the lower trim, or where beads were combined with metal elements. Apparently, different types of headdress reflect the gender and age of the buried. In addition, the beads were often used in temple pendants, which were part of a gift set or a headdress. Large beads were included in belt set of swords and (or) knives, with a number of knives found not only in the graves of men but also women of mature age (25–45 years).