Glass Beads from Saudi Arabia in the University of Oregon’s Museum of Natural and Cultural History

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Current Research on Ancient Glass around the Indian Ocean" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper will present information on a subsection of glass beads from a diverse collection of artifacts that are presumed to be from the Al Hasa Oasis region in Saudi Arabia and donated to the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History (MNCH). Although glass beads and objects are a commonly studied artifact in the Middle East, little analysis has been done to date on glass beads from Saudi Arabia. Glass beads, as small portable objects, are ideal for studying trade and interaction networks. Here we discuss 17 beads that were chosen from the MNCH collection. A typological study and compositional analysis using LA-ICP-MS identified multiple glass bead types from a variety of locations and time periods. We conclude by considering the implications for understanding Saudi Arabia’s place in global glass bead exchange networks.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)   •
• Current Research on Ancient Glass around the Indian Ocean

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36404.0