Glass Beads from Igbo Olokun, Ile-Ife: Chemical composition, production, and regional interaction
Author(s): Laure Dussubieux; Abidemi Babalola; Susan McIntosh
Year: 2015
Summary
The site of Igbo Olokun in the city of Ife, in southwestern Nigeria has been identified as a primary glass and glass beads production center dating to the "Classic" period (12th-15th c.), but glass from well-recorded contexts has been rare. Excavations in 2011-2012 produced over twelve thousand drawn glass beads. LA-ICP-MS analysis of 49 glass bead samples revealed two main compositional groups: High Lime, High Alumina (HLHA); and Low Lime, High Alumina (LLHA). While the occurrence of HLHA corresponds with other compositional analysis previously carried out on Ile-Ife glasses, the LLHA represents a new group that had not earlier been reported for Ile-Ife glass beads. This paper contributes to the argument for local manufacture of bead in Ile-Ife. It also examines the regional and trans-regional spread of Ile-Ife glass beads from the 12th through 17th century A.D.
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Cite this Record
Glass Beads from Igbo Olokun, Ile-Ife: Chemical composition, production, and regional interaction. Abidemi Babalola, Laure Dussubieux, Susan McIntosh. Presented at The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, California. 2015 ( tDAR id: 396449)
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Keywords
General
Glass Beads
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Glass production
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Ile-Ife
Geographic Keywords
AFRICA
Spatial Coverage
min long: -18.809; min lat: -38.823 ; max long: 53.262; max lat: 38.823 ;