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EXPLORE THE WORLD OF BEADS AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM

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Necklaces of faience beads and pendants

These fine necklaces from the Fosse Temple at Lachish illustrates the strongly Egyptianizing style of Cannanite art of the Late Bronze Age. During this period the southern Levant was under Egyptian domination. Lachish is referred to in the Amarna letters – a group of clay tablets written in Babylonian cuneiform found at Tell el-Amarna in Egypt and preserving diplomatic correspondence to Egyptian pharaohs from vassal kings. The ruler of Lachish was Shipti-ba’al, a vassal king, subject to th…

Necklace of lizard amulets, beads and pendants

Hollow gold lizards alternate with cornelian barrel beads and hollow gold date-shaped pendants. The central gold drop is inlaid with lapis lazuli and a cornelian cornflower pendant is attached at one end of the string. As well as being decorative, it was believed that these necklaces endowed the wearer with the powers and qualities symbolized by the amulets . For example, the fly was seen as a symbol of persistence and the lizard as one of regeneration because of its ability to re-grow wounded

Beaded crown (ade ileke)

Beaded and veiled crowns, ade ileke , are traditionally worn by those kings who could trace their ancestry to Ododua, the mythic founder and first king of the Yoruba people. The crown is called an orisha , a deity, and is placed upon the king’s head by his female attendant. Powerful medicines are placed at the top of the crown to protect the king’s head and thus his future. The veil that covers the king’s face hides his individuality and increases attention on the crown itself, the real centre o

‘Magical’ glass bead

This extraordinary ‘bead’ is made of opaque white glass with translucent purple marvered trails. It is exceptionally large and made in the shape of a bun with a flat base and the upper surface divided into six segments. It has a wide central piercing. The bead was found in 1860 in a woman’s grave. Also in the grave were a ring made from the burr end of a red deer antler, an iron purse-bar and a group of amber beads, some found at the neck and one at the right hand. The excavator indentified the

Beads and pendants

The archaeologist Leonard Woolley found these beads and pendants in the burial shaft and on the floor of one of the first Royal Graves at Ur to be excavated. The objects on the floor of the tomb may have belonged to human attendants, as discovered in similar tombs, while those found in the shaft may have been left as offerings, when the tomb was being filled with soil after the burial. Sumerian craftsmen were highly skilled in stone and metalwork. Beads found in graves of this period were gener

Beaded Neck Ornament

British Museum online tour: Sudan: from the Islamic Period to the Modern World

Painted wooden paddle doll with mud beads for hair

Female figurines were included in burials from the Predynastic period onwards. They were often highly stylized, emphasizing the sexual characteristic of the figure, such as the breast, hips and pubic area. In the past, there have been two opposing interpretations of these figurines. One argues that they should be interpreted as dolls, ignoring the emphasis placed on their female attributes. The other recognizes only these features, and the figurines are seen as ‘concubine figures’, intended to p

Read full detailed descriptions of these and other beads on their website.