Are There Any French Glass Beads In Quebec (16th and 17th Centuries)?

Summary

Hundreds of pounds of glass beads were imported among other goods by French settlers during the historical period. Those glass beads are found on several contexts from trading posts to Jesuits houses; alone or on objects: chaplets, bracelets, cloths. Although those beads were imported by French people, were they manufactured in France? If not, where do they come from? Is there a difference between beads found in trading posts and those from French settlements (settler use)? Is it possible to define a French "selection" of beads?

Nowadays, thousands of these beads are found on archaeological sites. As a starting point, beads from Saguenay-Lake-St-John trading posts, ruled through French and English periods, from the Jesuits house at La Prairie, and from St Louis’ fort and castles were studied using typology and chemical analysis. Data were compared with glass beads from two glass workshops in Europe and a Venetian ship (Gnalic, 1583).

Cite this Record

Are There Any French Glass Beads In Quebec (16th and 17th Centuries)?. adelphine bonneau, Reginald Auger, Bernard Gratuze, Jean-François Moreau. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, New Orleans, Louisiana. 2018 ( tDAR id: 441840)

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Keywords

General
Archaeometry Glass Beads trade networks

Geographic Keywords
Canada North America

Temporal Keywords
16th and 17th centuries

Spatial Coverage

min long: -141.003; min lat: 41.684 ; max long: -52.617; max lat: 83.113 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 210