Faceted Finds: Lapidary Beads at Jamestown, Virginia

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Opening the Vault: What Collections Can Say About Jamestown’s Global Trade Network", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The Jamestown Rediscovery collection contains 150 lapidary beads, including crystal quartz, chalcedony, carnelian, agate, amethyst, amber, and jet. Historically produced in regions where raw materials, craftsmen, and infrastructure came together, lapidary beads were transported across vast trade networks. India was a major source of semiprecious stone beads, exporting crystal quartz, carnelian, and agate beads to Europe and elsewhere for millennia. European cities including Venice, Paris, and Milan had their own lapidary industries throughout the medieval and early modern periods as well. Due to their significance to both Europeans and Indigenous peoples, lapidary beads continued to follow complex paths of exchange after their arrival in the Americas as both personal possessions and valuable trade items through further trade and heirlooming. Differences in material and craftsmanship hold clues to the origins of these valuable artifacts and the connections they represent between Jamestown and the global networks of the 17th century.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023   •
• Opening the Vault: What Collections Can Say About Jamestown’s Global Trade Network

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow