Drilling into the Past: Social Bead Making for Undergrad Learning

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Experimental Pedagogies: Teaching through Experimental Archaeology Part 1" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The first ostrich eggshell beads appeared across parts of Africa 50 ka and represent one of the earliest forms of ornamentation. Far from being uniform, research shows differences in bead diameter which cluster regionally and chronologically. These clusters are thought to represent distinct bead making traditions in eastern and southern Africa and are used as a proxy for tracking the migration of herders into southern Africa. Our experiment attempts to determine if there are other relevant but non-stylistic variables that influence bead diameter that could add complexity these interpretations. During our research, we were assisted by numerous students which led to us to see the potential for bead making as a pedagogical tool. As a classroom activity, bead making requires little preparation, is safe, and features a shallower learning curve than similar alternatives such as flintknapping. Our experiment also generated a large volume of beads that could serve as a teaching collection. Not only do the beads give students the opportunity to handle replicated Stone Age technology, but they could serve as a data set for students to manipulate, allowing them to learn the basics of data collection, management, and analysis.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Experimental Pedagogies: Teaching through Experimental Archaeology Part 1   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38878.0