A cache of ~5000 glass beads from the Sibudu Cave Iron Age occupation

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Southern African Humanities Vol. 21 Pages 239–261 Pietermaritzburg December, 2009

http://www.sahumanities.org.za

A cache of ~5000 glass beads from the Sibudu CaveIron Age occupation

1Marilee Wood, 2Laure Dussubieux and 1,3Lyn Wadley1 School of Geography, Archaeology & Environmental Studies, University of the

Witwatersrand, Wits, 2050 South Africa; [email protected] Museum, Department of Anthropology, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive,

Chicago, IL 60605; [email protected] for Human Evolution, University of the Witwatersrand;

[email protected]

ABSTRACTA cache of ~5000 glass beads was recovered from a small pit in an Iron Age layer at Sibudu Cave. The bead strings incorporated brownish-red, blue-green, blue and other colours of glass beads, some copper beads and also two perforated Conus ebraeus shells. A necklace of shell disc-beads interspersed with blue glass beads was also present. Sixteen of the glass beads were analysed chemically using LA-ICP-MS at the Field Museum, Chicago. The results indicate the beads originated in India. The Iron Age layers have calibrated radiocarbon dates between AD 1020 and 1160 and they incorporate Blackburn facies ceramics. These Blackburn associations seem too early for the types of beads represented and the cache of beads may have been hidden in the shelter in the 1500s or 1600s after the Blackburn occupation. KEY WORDS: Sibudu Cave, Iron Age, glass beads, chemical analysis, Indian beads.

Sibudu is a large rock shelter located approximately 40 km north of Durban, South Africa, about 15 km inland from the Indian Ocean, on a steep cliff overlooking the Tongati River. The shelter is 55 m long and about 18 m in breadth. Entering the shelter necessitates crossing the river (which is sometimes shoulder-deep) and scaling a 3 m rock face. There are sufficient hand-holds and natural steps to make entry and exit relatively easy for a sound-bodied person with a good head for heights, but it would not be possible to get cattle into the shelter. The point about access is made only to call attention to the atypical nature of the shelter for Iron Age settlement.

The excavation grid is in the northern part of the shelter approximately 100 m above mean sea-level. A small trial trench roughly 1 m deep was excavated in 1983 by Aron Mazel and his stratigraphic names for the Iron Age layers, recorded in notes housed in the Natal Museum, have been retained here. The present excavations, which are ongoing, began in 1998 and Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposit over 21 m2 and Iron Age deposit over 26 m2 have been excavated by the Wadley team (Wadley & Jacobs 2004, 2006). Each metre square is divided into quadrants a (north-east), b (south-east), c (north-west) and d (south-west) and all artefacts are excavated and bagged separately from each quadrant.

The uppermost occupation is from the Iron Age and directly below this is the MSA with a long and detailed cultural sequence. No Later Stone Age (LSA) remains are present in Sibudu and it seems that a long hiatus occurred between the final MSA occupations and the first Iron Age occupations. This hiatus is not detectable as a sterile unit in the stratigraphy. Today the surface of the cave floor is scoured by wind in late winter/early summer and similar circumstances in the past may have prevented the accumulation of sterile deposits.

240 SOUTHERN AFRICAN HUMANITIES, VOL. 21, 2009

The stratigraphy relevant to the Iron Age of the site comprises three layers. Below the surface sweep of modern dust and leaf litter is brown silt with vegetal material (BSV). The underlying brown sand with stones (BSS), which is deep in parts of the site, has been arbitrarily divided and the lower part of the layer is named BSS2. Three radiocarbon ages have been obtained from charcoal (Table 1). The calibrated dates suggest that essentially the same age is represented throughout the Iron Age occupation; this issue is discussed again later.

Layers BSV, BSS and BSS2 contain ceramics, upper and lower grindstones, rare pieces of metal, bones, seeds, gourd fragments, wood, wooden stakes, a wooden digging stick and even some fragments of basketry. The ceramics are largely undecorated, with the exception of a few sherds with simple, incised parallel lines. The sparse decoration, together with the shapes of some rim fragments, suggests that the ceramics belong to the Blackburn facies of the local Late Iron Age sequence (Whitelaw pers. comm.; Huffman 2004, 2007). Blackburn sites have calibrated radiocarbon dates between about AD 1100 and 1300, but the facies may extend to about AD 1500 (Huffman 2004, 2007: 444). The name site, Blackburn (Davies 1971), has a calibrated age (all calibrations in this paper use the curve from Vogel et al. 1993) of AD 1170–1235 (Huffman 2004), while Mpambanyoni (Robey 1980) has calibrated ages between AD 1025 and 1250 (Huffman 2004).

At Sibudu, the remains of a clay hut floor were found in the southern part of the excavation grid. The full extent of the floor has not been excavated, but on present evidence, the floor is likely to be about the size (~5 m across) of the ones uncovered at Blackburn, where they would have been used as foundations for Nguni-style beehive huts (Davies 1971). A beehive hut is also likely to have been placed above the clay floor at Sibudu. The Sibudu floor is unburnt and no more than about two centimetres thick, so it is more like a temporary smear than a permanent hut floor. Trampled grass that may have served as matting was near the clay floor. Several Iron Age pits (some of which were greater than a metre in diameter) were dug into the MSA deposits, creating a mixture of MSA and Iron Age material culture, food waste, ashy deposit and charcoal. The pits became refuse dumps, though they may originally have had another purpose. One pit had wooden pegs surrounding it, suggesting that a leather cover might have been staked over it. However, none of the pits was lined with dung or had any other indication of use, such as food storage. Similar pits were found at Blackburn (Davies 1971) and at even earlier sites, such as the Early Iron Age site of Msuluzi Confluence (Maggs 1980a). The Sibudu pits contained a great many well-preserved, uncarbonized seeds from a variety of edible fruits, including Sclerocarya birrea (marula) and Harpephyllum caffrum (sour plum) (Sievers Scott 2005). Some of the seeds were gnawed by rodents, which probably feasted on the refuse in the pits.

TABLE 1Sibudu Iron Age radiocarbon ages (from charcoal). Calibrated ranges rounded off to the nearest 10.

Lab. No. Sample designation δ13C (‰PDB)

Radiocarbon years b.p.

Calibrated 1 sigma range

Pta-8015 Square E3d, BSS pit - 960 ± 25 1040–1170Pta-9202 Square F5a, hut floor -22.3 970 ± 50 1030–1180Pta-9196 Square B5c, BSS2 -27.3 1030 ± 40 1010–1040

WOOD ET AL.: A GLASS BEAD CACHE FROM SIBUDU CAVE 241

A cache of over 5000 glass beads comprising many coiled strands (Figs 1 & 2) was found in a small hole that was deliberately dug into B4b (the south-east quadrant of square B4) from layer BSV into BSS. The bead coils fitted the shape of the hole perfectly and they may have been stored in a bag, though no trace of one preserved. The thongs or twine that originally held the beads had decayed so the neat lines of beads were no longer securely connected where they lay amongst some loose beads in the hole. Most beads were brownish-red, though blue-green and blue beads formed a design amongst the brownish-red ones. A few crimped copper beads (four whole and four fragments)

Fig. 1. Intact Sibudu bead cache: front.

Fig. 2. Intact Sibudu bead cache: back.


were found amongst the loose beads, but more are incorporated into the strung beads along with two perforated Conus ebraeus shells (Fig. 3). These marine shells occur commonly in warm waters all along the east coast of Africa with the southern limit around Port St Johns (Richards 1981).

During the excavation of the bead cache, a 10 % solution of Paraloid and acetone was painted on the coils in an attempt to hold the beads in place. A syringe was used to apply Paraloid to the coils in the centre of the cache. As far as possible, the strings of beads were removed in toto, but because the coils formed a substantial chunk more than 10 cm thick, many loose beads were embedded in the ashy silt and could not be resin-coated. An entire necklace of putative ostrich eggshell disc-beads that included some blue glass beads was recovered as part of the cache. The shell disc-bead necklace will be described elsewhere after analysis by Lucinda Backwell. The disc-beads need careful examination of the kind undertaken by Ward and Maggs (1988) on examples from KwaZulu-Natal. They note that disc-beads made from ostrich eggshell and Achatinidae are fairly common at KwaZulu-Natal Early Iron Age sites, such as Ntshekane, Ndondondwane and Magogo (Ward & Maggs 1988) and Msuluzi Confluence (Maggs 1980a). Late Iron Age sites in KwaZulu-Natal, such as Moor Park and Mpambanyoni, seldom contain disc-beads.

Glass beads are far less common in KwaZulu-Natal and are reported in abundance only from Iron Age sites post-dating 1800 (e.g. Van der Merwe et al. 1989). Early Iron Age sites contain a few glass beads: one was found at Ntshekane (Maggs & Michael 1976), another at KwaGandaganda (Whitelaw 1994) and a third from a Ntshekane-phase pit on the bank of the Zinkwazi River (site 2931AB 17). No glass beads were found in the Late Iron Age sites of Blackburn and Mpambanyoni (Davies 1971; Robey 1980). In the Thukela Basin, several LSA sites have glass beads of European, but not Indian origin. Mgede Shelter yielded a pale yellow glass bead as well as green, white, and bi-coloured red and white glass beads (Mazel 1986a: 377). Mbabane Shelter produced six red glass beads with black centres and eSinhlonhlweni Shelter one blue glass bead with a white centre (Mazel 1986b: 410). Twenty glass beads found in KwaThwaleyakhe Shelter and seven in Maqonqo Shelter are thought to have been of Italian origin (Mazel 1993: 20, 1996: 25). This sparse glass bead distribution at Iron Age and LSA settlements in KwaZulu-Natal emphasizes the rarity and importance of the Sibudu bead cache.

Fig. 3. Conus ebraeus shells with embedded bead.


PREPARATION AND CLASSIFICATION OF THE BEAD ASSEMBLAGE

The glass bead cache was cleaned in the laboratory and deposit not secured with resin was sieved through 1 mm mesh to recover loose beads. The Paraloid coating has been kept on the solid lump of coiled beads, but this coating can be removed with acetone if this is considered necessary in the future. All measurements and numbers in the tables refer to the 2480 loose beads only, because the beads in the consolidated coils cannot be counted or measured. The number of consolidated beads has, however, been estimated at around 2700. This number was arrived at by weighing the 1607 small sized brownish-red beads then comparing that weight to the consolidated mass (it was estimated that 10 % of the mass was matrix so 10 % of the mass was subtracted before calculating the number of beads).

Classifying glass beadsSeveral characteristics, including method of manufacture, end treatment, structure, shape, size, colour and translucency are used to classify beads. This classification draws on Kidd and Kidd (1970), Karklins (1985: 85–117) and Wood (2005: 23–38).

All Sibudu glass beads are simple in structure, meaning they are made of a single undecorated layer of glass. All are drawn, that is, they were cut into lengths from glass tubes that were drawn or pulled out from a gather (globule) of molten glass that had been perforated through the centre. The perforation remains intact in the drawing process and becomes the hole in the centre of each bead. Once cut into lengths the bead ends are often heat treated (rounded) by packing them into a large pan with ash or another medium to keep them separated. They are then reheated until the glass begins to melt, smoothing or rounding the cut ends. The longer the reheating process, the rounder the beads become, but care must be taken to avoid over-melting or they will collapse and be ruined. The ends of most tubular Sibudu beads show little evidence of rounding, but they are smooth (that is, not sharp) indicating they were reheated only briefly.

The Sibudu beads can be divided into three shapes: tube, cylinder and oblate. Most cataloguing systems do not distinguish between tubes and cylinders, but Wood has found it useful in classifying pre-European bead assemblages. The bodies of tubular beads have straight, parallel sides. Their ends may be slightly smoothed through reheating, but the profile remains straight. The ends of cylindrical beads are visibly rounded, but a small portion of the body can remain straight. Most irregularly shaped beads fall into this category. Oblate beads have been reheated to the point that the entire body is smoothly rounded. Their length must be less than their diameter (if they were equal the bead would be a sphere). The oblate designation is reserved for uniform, well-formed beads.

Bead sizes are made up of two measurements: first the diameter, perpendicular to the perforation, is measured (Table 2) and then the length, parallel to the perforation. The

TABLE 2Size range parameters for Sibudu beads.

Size range Diameter in mmminute < 2.5small 2.5–3.5

medium 3.5–4.5large > 4.5


size ranges (diameter measurements) have been developed for use with southern African glass bead assemblages (Wood 2005: 33) because bead diameters there are smaller than those found in most other regions, such as the East African coast (Chittick 1974: 464; Morrison 1984: 182). Bead lengths are recorded as length-ratio (Table 3), which is the relationship between the length and diameter of the bead. These categories are adapted from Chittick (1974: 463).

Bead colours are determined using the Munsell Book of Colours (Munsell 1976) under natural daylight. Bead researchers normally restrict glass translucency (or diaphaneity) descriptions to three categories: transparent, translucent and opaque. Wood has found that gradations between these categories can be useful when working with assemblages of small, monochrome drawn beads. Therefore the categories of transparent-translucent, translucent-transparent, translucent-opaque and opaque-translucent have been added to the normal three (Wood 2005: 35).

TABLE 3Length ratio parameters for Sibudu beads.

Length ratio designations Formuladisc length = < 1/5 diametershort length = > 1/5 and < 4/5 diameterstandard length = > 4/5 and < 1 1/5 diameterlong length = > 11/5 and < 2 diametervery long length = > 2 diameter

Fig. 4. Brownish-red loose Sibudu beads in three size groups.


Classifying the Sibudu glass beadsAs mentioned earlier, these data (Appendix 1) include only the 2480 loose beads (Figs 4 & 5), not those in the consolidated strings. Table 4 records their shapes and end treatment. Table 5 demonstrates that most Sibudu beads are small and short and that very few fall outside the boundaries of small to minute and short to standard categories. Table 6 lists colour groups and translucency for the beads. As is evident, brownish-red beads (Fig. 4) form the bulk of the assemblage. Blue-green and blue (Fig. 5) are the only other colours represented by more than a few beads. Any blue with even a touch of green is placed into the blue-green category. The designation ‘blue’ is reserved for cobalt blue beads. Chemical analysis shows that cobalt colours the blue beads and copper (sometimes with the addition of iron) colours the blue-green ones.

CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF THE BEAD ASSEMBLAGE1

MethodThe analyses carried out at the Field Museum, Chicago, involved a Varian inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) and a New Wave UP213 laser, for direct

Fig. 5. Green, yellow, blue and blue-green loose Sibudu beads.

TABLE 4Shape and end treatment of Sibudu loose glass beads.

Shape Number Heat rounded Lightly reheatedtube 2425 77 2348

cylinder 54 54 -oblate 1 1 -total 2480 132 2348


introduction of solid samples. The parameters for ICP-MS were optimized to ensure a stable signal with a maximum intensity over the full range of masses of the elements and to minimize oxides and double ionized species formation (CeO+/Ce+ and Ba++/Ba+ < 1–2 %). For that purpose the argon flows, the radio-frequency power, the torch position, the lenses, the mirror and the detector voltages were adjusted using an auto-optimization procedure. For better sensitivity, helium is used as a gas carrier in the laser. A single point analysis mode using a laser beam diameter of 55 µm, operating at 70 % of the laser energy (0.2 mJ) and at a pulse frequency of 15 Hz was used in order to determine elements with concentrations in the range of ppm and below, while leaving an almost invisible mark on each bead’s surface. A pre-ablation time of 20 seconds was set up to eliminate the transient part of the signal and to ensure that possible surface contamination or corrosion did not affect the results. For each glass sample, an average of four measurements corrected from the blank was used for calculating concentrations. Isotope 29Si was used for internal standardization. In order to isolate the main components of the glasses, reduced compositions were calculated by normalizing the seven major and minor oxides to 100 %. This process removes most of the compositional effects of additives, such as colourants, and permits examination of the basic glass recipe (Gratuze 1999).

Two series of standard reference materials were used to determine the concentrations of major, minor and trace elements. The first series of external standards were NIST SRM 610 and 612. Both of these standards are soda-lime-silica glass doped with trace elements in the range of 500 ppm (SRM 610) and 50 ppm (SRM 612). Certified values are available for a very limited number of elements. Concentrations from Pearce et al. (1997) were used for the other elements. The second series of standards were manufactured by Corning. Glasses B and D best match the compositions of ancient glass (Brill 1999: 544).

TABLE 5Size ranges and length ratios of Sibudu loose glass beads.

Size rangeLength ratio

Short Standard Long Totalminute 332 114 2 448small 1370 434 14 1818medium 196 16 - 212large 2 - - 2

TABLE 6Colour groups and translucency of Sibudu loose beads. Tsp = transparent; Tsp/tsl = transparent-

translucent; Tsl/tsp = translucent-transparent; Tsl = translucent; Tsl/op = translucent-opaque; Op/tsl = opaque-translucent; Op = opaque; Ind = indeterminate.

Colour group Tsp Tsp/tsl Tsl/tsp Tsl Tsl/op Op/tsl Op Ind Totalindeterminate - - - - 4 6 - 1 11black - - - - - - 2 - 2blue - - - - 80 - - - 80blue-green 2 - 1 3 128 - - - 134green - - - 3 4 - - - 7yellow - - - - 8 - - - 8brownish-red - - - - - - 2238 - 2238


Glass Corning C is generally not one of the standards used for quantitative analysis, but is measured regularly to check the reliability of our results.

The detection limits range from less than 1 ppb to 2 ppm for copper and are generally under 1 ppm for most of the elements. Accuracy is generally better than 10 %. Reproducibility is better than 10 % for most elements. For more details about the performance of LA-ICP-MS for glass analysis at the Field Museum, see Dussubieux et al. (2009).

Results (see Appendix 2)Ancient glass was generally made by melting sand, which is mostly silica (SiO2), with a flux (an alkali or alkali earth-based ingredient) added to lower the melting point of the mix. Sodium-based fluxes were generally obtained either from mineral deposits or from soda plant ash, the former being purer than the latter. The magnesia (MgO) and in some cases the potash (K2O) contents of the glass act as indicators of the purity of the soda flux. For example, glass made with sodium carbonate taken from mineral deposits (also called natron) contains low levels of magnesia and potash while glass made with soda plant ash will have concentrations of magnesia and potash higher than 1.5 %. Soda-rich plants are known as halophytic plants and grow in salt-rich soils. Different proportions of magnesia, soda and potash may result from the use of different types of halophytic plants. Saltpetre (potassium nitrate), a mineral efflorescence, provides a rather pure potash flux while forest plant ash that contains both potash and lime (CaO) results in a glass with a more mixed composition. Lead can also be used as flux.

Alumina (Al2O3) and lime are necessary to obtain durable glass. They are generally present in the sand along with silica, although as has been mentioned lime may be added with certain fluxes. If the concentrations of lime present in the sand and/or flux are too low, additional amounts may be added separately. Differing proportions of these elements in a glass, as well as concentrations of iron (Fe), titanium (Ti) and trace elements, can help point to the sand or rock sources used by the glassmaker. Granite sand generally produces glass in which proportions of alumina are much higher than lime, while a lime sand, which may come from a coastal deposit, will result in a glass in which proportions of lime are higher than alumina. Crushed quartz pebbles, a rather pure source of silica, produce a glass low in both lime and alumina.

In the glass used to make the Sibudu beads, the main constituent after silica is soda (~19 %); the low levels of magnesia (~0.8 %) indicate that the soda has a mineral origin. This type of glass is characterized by relatively high alumina concentrations (higher than 4 %) due to the addition of granite sand that contains relatively high levels of impurities and is often called mineral soda alumina (m-Na-Al) glass. Based on trace element concentrations, two subtypes have been identified for this glass. The first subtype comprises glass samples mostly from South India, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, which date from the fifth century BC to the tenth century AD. This glass, rare in Africa, has average uranium concentrations around 20 ppm and relatively high barium concentrations, up to ~3500 ppm. It is known as low uranium-high barium (lU-hBa) glass. The second subtype dates from the eighth to the nineteenth centuries and is more common at sites in sub-Saharan Africa and has been found on the west coast of India (Dussubieux et al. 2008). Uranium concentrations in this m-Na-Al glass are higher than in the previous subtype and average approximately 100 ppm, while barium concentrations


are significantly lower; this subtype is labelled high uranium-low barium (hU-lBa) glass. This type of glass has been identified in Madagascar (Robertshaw, Rasoarifetra et al. 2006) as well as at numerous Iron Age sites in southern Africa (Robertshaw et al. 2003; Robertshaw, Wood et al. 2006). The m-Na-Al glass in this study has an average uranium concentration of 180 ± 80 ppm and an average barium concentration of 320 ± 90 ppm and is therefore part of the hU-lBa sub-group.

Ingredients used to colour the glass samples vary. The two yellow beads (Fig. 6) contain more lead and tin than other beads, indicating they were coloured with lead stannate (PbSnO3), a yellow crystalline compound. The cobalt blue glass beads contain cobalt associated with arsenic and nickel (see Dussubieux et al. 2008 for a discussion on this colourant). The blue-green beads contain significant quantities of copper oxide (more than 0.5 %) and vary in hue depending on other additives. When more cobalt is present they are bluer, and with higher levels of lead stannate they are greener. The green beads are copper rich and contain elevated levels of lead stannate. They also contain relatively high quantities of iron (6.1 and 4.3 %), which may have played a role in the colouring of these artefacts (the one with higher iron content is more olive-green than the other). The brownish-red glass is coloured with copper; the colour was quite likely facilitated by the presence of relatively high concentrations of iron (see Dussubieux et al. 2008 for more details).

Fig. 6. Sibudu test beads L–R: top SBDU 01–04, middle SBDU 05–10, bottom SBDU 11–16.

DISCUSSION

The cache of ~5000 beads, indeed the entire Iron Age occupation at Sibudu, is extraordinary in several ways. Such wealth in beads might be expected in association with an elite dwelling, yet the shelter is an unlikely place for this. Iron Age occupation in shelters is, in any event, atypical other than in defensive situations, for example during the Mfecane. There presently is no reason to suspect that Sibudu was used for such purposes. Another possibility is that the shelter was home to a diviner or herbalist who practiced in this unusual and relatively inaccessible place (Whitelaw pers. comm.). Clients may have brought gifts or payment for advice and healing. Only


the Conus ebraeus beads are local if the disc beads prove to be of ostrich eggshell. Maggs (1980a) considers that eggshell beads came from hunter-gatherers who lived in country above 1200 m a.s.l. because ostriches apparently are not endemic to coastal and bushveld environments. The rare copper beads were probably also imported (Miller & Whitelaw 1994).

Caches of beads, such as the one recovered from Sibudu Cave, are rare; only one other from pre-European contexts in southern Africa is known to the authors. In it 2600 glass beads were found in a pot on a hut floor at Kgaswe homestead in eastern Botswana (Denbow 1986: 19). Three calibrated radiocarbon dates placed the site between AD 1000 and 1260. The beads indicate that a date toward the end of this span is most likely (Wood 2005: 44). The Sibudu cache is also remarkable because the care taken in excavating it allows us to see that the beads were strung for wearing. Beads strung for trade distribution would not be artfully interspersed with different colours (for example, the two blue-green beads that flank the uncommonly long brownish-red one in Fig. 1), let alone with marine shells and copper beads. The general uniformity in size and shape of the beads is also noteworthy.

Origins of the beadsThe high alumina sand and mineral soda glass used to make the Sibudu beads suggests they were probably produced in India. Early historical sources list both Cambay on India’s west coast and Negapatam (the current spelling is Nagapattinum) on the southeast coast as ports where Portuguese and subsequent European traders procured beads for the southern and East African trade. Cambay is mentioned in several early records as a source of beads for this trade. According to Gaspar Correa’s 1512 account of Cabral’s visit to Sofala in 1501, two classes of beads were exported from Cambay: red beads (contas vermellias) and small transparent coloured glass beads (continhas de vidro cristalinas). In addition it is recorded that small transparent glass beads were taken along as gifts for “the king” (Theal 1898, II: 26–7). In 1505 Duarte Barbosa stated that Moors from Kilwa, Mombasa and Malindi brought Cambay cloths and “many small beads, grey, red and yellow” to Sofala and Angoche in small vessels called zambucos (Dames 1918: 12, 15). He also described Cambay beads as “one of the important articles of trade brought from India to the Red Sea and the East Coast of Africa by Mohammedan sea-faring traders” (Arkell 1936: 299). Tomé Pires (ca. 1511) recorded that “glass beads and other beads from Cambay” were used in the Indian Ocean trade (Freeman-Grenville 1962: 125). Axelson (1973: 46) notes that in 1506 the Portuguese at Sofala were fortunate in that a caravel arrived with “loot from Kilwa” that included beads from Cambay, because the local inhabitants did not view European ones with favour. Some scholars (Arkell 1936: 300; Francis 2002: 171) contend that beads exported from Cambay, especially the red ones (the colour of many carnelian beads), were of stone only. Careful reading of early records indicates that some glass beads were probably exported as well. In addition to the statements by Cabral and Pires already mentioned, another account by Pires noted that at Malacca traders from Borneo “take a great deal of coloured glass beads from Cambay” (Cortesão 1967: 133). If both stone and glass beads were being exported from Cambay, were they being made there? Stone beads, especially of carnelian and agate, have been made near or at Cambay for possibly two millennia (Arkell 1936: 304; Francis 2002: 108–9). Barbosa recorded that Cambay had


many skilful turners who make … beads of sundry kinds, black, yellow, blue and red and many other colours … Here too are many workers in stones … A great amount of work is also done here in coral, alaquequas (carnelians) and other stones (Arkell 1936: 301).

Although the bead colours mentioned by Barbosa could be represented by stone beads (as Arkell believed), Barbosa’s reference to both turners of coloured beads and “workers in stones” suggests he might have been saying that both glass and stone beads were being made in Cambay. However, to date we have found no records of archaeological or other evidence to suggest that glass or glass beads were actually made there. In sum, it seem likely that both stone and glass beads were exported from Cambay, but only stone beads were made there or in the near vicinity.

Negapatam was also mentioned in early Portuguese records as a source of beads. Several references state that Portuguese traders were obliged to purchase beads at Negapatum because European beads were not acceptable to local inhabitants (Schofield 1958: 183; Van der Sleen 1956: 28, 1958: 212). Van der Sleen furthermore reports that when this knowledge reached the Portuguese king, he wrote to “his Governor in Negapatam, to ensure that his ships could be provided there with the beads [recorded as green, yellow and blue] wanted by the natives on the African coast” (Van der Sleen 1956: 28). In Lavanha’s account of the survivors of the wrecked Portuguese ship, Santo Alberto, who walked from just west of the Umtata River inland to Delagoa Bay in 1593, it was reported that one group of natives wore red beads in their ears. Nuno Velho Pereira, the chief captain, said he

saw from their [the beads’] appearance that they came from the land of Inhaca, who is king of the people living by the river of Lourenço Marques. These beads are made of clay of all colours, of the size of coriander seed. They are made in India at Negapatam, whence they are brought to Mozambique and thence they reach these negroes through the Portuguese who exchange them for ivory (Theal 1898, II: 303).

The reference to these beads, especially red ones, as clay (barros miudas) is a common misidentification because they look like terracotta or earthenware. Although Schofield maintained (based on the early records) that the beads must have been clay, he had to admit that “it is a curious fact that none of the clay beads from Negapatam have as yet been found on an archaeological site” (1938: 369). Even though many tens of thousands of beads dating to this period have been recovered in eastern and southern Africa since Schofield made this statement, not a single Indian ‘clay’ bead has been found. Bead specialists, including Van der Sleen (1958: 212, 1973: 82) and Francis (2002: 226 ff. 34) recognized that these “beads are nothing but opaque glass” (Van der Sleen 1958: 212). Indeed, they are the beads that Van der Sleen dubbed ‘Trade-wind’ and Francis called ‘Indo-Pacific’.

The Lavanah account is filled with references to glass beads being used during the survivors’ journey as gifts or to pay for goods and services. It is also recorded that when they reached the latitude 27°27′, which Schofield (1958: 184) identified as in the Newcastle-Utrecht district of KwaZulu-Natal, they headed east “in which direction lay the village where their red beads were sold, which are those which come from the river of Lourenço Marques” (Theal 1898, II: 333).

Again the question arises: were the beads exported from Negapatam made there? Van der Sleen (1956: 28) opined that it is unlikely beads were being made there. After a careful survey of the area in 1988, Francis found no evidence for beadmaking, glass making or glass working at the site (Francis 2002: 40). So once again we have a port


through which glass beads were exported, but they were evidently made elsewhere. An additional informative note about Negapatam is recorded by both Schofield and Van der Sleen: the port, which had been a Portuguese factory, was taken over by the Dutch in 1660. After the takeover, the export of beads from Negapatam “either ceased altogether or could only be carried on as contraband” (Schofield 1938: 366). Further, Van der Sleen thought that the “importation of Trade-wind beads must have stopped shortly after that time” (1958: 212). The assumption that could be drawn from this is that European beads found a greater place in the African trade after this date.

Placing the Sibudu glass beads in timeOne method of placing a glass bead assemblage in time is to compare it to other assemblages whose dates are known. The calibrated radiocarbon dates place the Iron Age layers at Sibudu between AD 1020 and 1160. These dates coincide with the K2 period in the Shashe-Limpopo basin where many thousands of glass beads have been recovered from archaeological deposits (Fouché 1937; Gardner 1963; Saitowitz 1996; Wood 2005). Some similarities do exist between the Sibudu and K2-period assemblages: a few tubular blue-green Sibudu beads (such as SBDU05) are similar to the characteristic K2 ones, some brownish-red tubular beads are found in K2 assemblages and the yellow and green beads from both sites are macroscopically similar. The distribution of colours, however, is very different in that K2 assemblages are made up mainly of blue-green beads, while brownish-red beads occur in only small numbers (although quantities do increase in the early thirteenth century) (Wood 2005). In addition, the size and shape of the Sibudu beads, especially the brownish-red ones, are more uniform than their K2 counterparts. The beads that solidly demonstrate a lack of connection between the assemblages, however, are the cobalt blue beads. No cobalt blue beads are found in K2-period assemblages. They do appear in the bead series that succeed K2 (the Mapungubwe Oblate series and the Zimbabwe series), but those beads are made of a dark cobalt blue transparent glass that cannot be mistaken for the glass used to make the translucent-opaque lighter coloured Sibudu beads. In addition, the glass used to make all Mapungubwe and Zimbabwe series beads is a plant ash glass (Robertshaw, Wood et al. 2006) so is chemically different from that used for the Sibudu beads. Cobalt blue beads that are similar visually and chemically to the Sibudu ones do not appear elsewhere in southern African until about the fifteenth century as part of the Khami bead series (Wood 2005).

Of other bead assemblages that may be related to the Sibudu beads, such as from Thulamela (AD 1435–1455 to 1505–1645, Huffman 2007: 253) and Machemma (AD 1410–1440 to 1475–1640, Huffman 2007: 258), only the southern Zambian site of Ingombe Ilede has beads that are visually similar. They come from burials that date to the fifteenth century (Huffman pers. comm.). Given the distance between the two sites, we do not suggest that they were in direct trading contact, but the similarities in the bead assemblages may indicate they date to around the same time.

The chemistry of Sibudu beads tells us they were made in India, and thus it is likely they arrived in southern Africa before the end of the seventeenth century when European beads largely supplanted Indian ones. A mixture of chemistry and comparisons to other Iron Age bead assemblages in southern Africa make it unlikely they would pre-date the mid-fifteenth century. Given these parameters, the beads probably date to somewhere between AD 1450 and 1660 and could have been imported by either non-European or


European traders since, as was noted earlier, African consumers preferred Indian-made beads to the ‘new’ varieties.

Where do the Sibudu beads fit in what is now known about bead series in southern Africa? They do not match the K2 series morphologically or the Mapungubwe Oblate and Zimbabwe series chemically. They are close to the Khami series chemically but not morphologically. So it appears that they either post-date the Khami series, and are thus a new and as yet undefined series, or they are an undefined series that is more or less contemporaneous with the Khami series. This is a possibility since Portuguese records tell us that beads were being imported from both northwest (Cambay) and southeast (Negapatam) India from the beginning of the sixteenth century through to the later part of the seventeenth century.

The Sibudu bead cache in the context of the Iron Age occupation To return to the archaeological evidence, it seems worth mentioning that KwaZulu-Natal’s Blackburn and Moor Park sequence is not yet well understood and the issue of whether the Blackburn facies terminates in the Sibudu area at AD 1300 or 1500 depends on whether or not Moor Park is a regional development from it in southern/interior KwaZulu-Natal (Huffman 2007 and pers. comm. to Wadley). Blackburn might have continued after AD 1300 only in the north of KwaZulu-Natal (for example, in the Richards Bay area), until it developed into Nqabeni around AD 1700. If this was the case, then the Sibudu area would have Moor Park and not Blackburn cultural items from about AD 1300. Separating the two facies will be difficult based on ceramics alone because there is overlap in the key features of the ceramics (Huffman 2007). However, if the termination date for Blackburn is about AD 1500 in the Sibudu area, then there is not necessarily a contradiction between a fifteenth/sixteenth century glass bead cache found at Sibudu and the Blackburn cultural remains at the site. The Sibudu ceramics have not yet been analysed, so it is presently not possible to provide numbers of Blackburn sherds occurring above and below the hut floor. As a result, it is not yet clear whether the three radiocarbon dates that calibrate to between AD 1020 and 1160 span the full Iron Age occupation of the site or whether they date only an early phase of occupation. Until the glass bead analysis suggested that the beads might post-date the radiocarbon dates by several centuries, it was assumed that only one Iron Age occupation was represented at the site. Now it seems possible that the charcoal found within the clay floor might predate the floor itself and that the floor could be more recent than AD 1160. If this is the case, then the floor and the bead cache are potentially contemporaneous. If, however, all the ceramics and the clay floor do represent one Iron Age occupation, the bead cache must have been buried in the shelter for some unknown purpose after the hut represented by the clay floor was abandoned. We are consequently uncertain about the relationship between the bead cache, the Blackburn material culture and the radiocarbon dates. Resolution of this issue is a project for future research that will involve getting radiocarbon dates for layer BSV. If the BSV dates prove younger than the date that we have for the hut floor, this will support the idea that the charcoal embedded in the clay predates the floor itself and that two Iron Age occupations are represented.

Rarity of glass beads in Iron Age KwaZulu-NatalAs we pointed out earlier, glass beads are rare in Iron Age contexts in the KwaZulu-Natal region. Why should this be the case when sites further north have produced


many thousands of them from as early as the ninth century? From early Arabic sources, such as al-Masudi, Buzurg ibn Shahriyar, al Biruni and al-Idrisi (Wood 2005: 168–79) it appears that trading ports on the coast did not extend much south of the Bazaruto area of Mozambique, if at all. Sailing south through the Mozambique Channel is easy enough since the current flows south year-round, but the return journey north against the current is difficult so only highly lucrative trade would have encouraged traders to make the extra effort to journey farther south. Although KwaZulu-Natal could have provided ivory, a much sought after commodity in early trade, there was a plentiful supply further north. Ivory trade from the region began only after Lourenço Marques explored Delagoa Bay in 1545 (Newitt 1995: 152–3). Gold, the one commodity that could have encouraged traders to undertake the cost and risk to travel further south, was absent in the KwaZulu-Natal region.

Limited exchange was carried on overland amongst local communities, however. Evidence for this is sparse, but can be gleaned from reports by early European visitors to the region, mainly survivors of shipwrecks. As we have noted, the survivors of the Santo Alberto wreck recorded the use of glass beads by some people they encountered. In another account by Perestrello, a Portuguese navigator who survived the 1554 wreck of the São Bento, it was recorded that the party encountered a man wearing a few coriander-seed sized (3–5 mm) red beads,

which we rejoiced to see, it seeming to us that these beads being in his possession proved that we were near some river frequented by trading vessels, for they are only made in the kingdom of Cambaya, and are brought by the hands of our people to this coast (Theal 1898, I: 225).

Once again small red beads from Cambay are mentioned. These would have been brownish-red glass beads—the same sort referred to in the Santo Alberto account and related to those from the Sibudu cache. However, the paucity of such observations as well as the absence of glass beads in archaeological sites indicates that they were very rare indeed in this part of the country. They did not become commonplace until European trade through Delagoa Bay (Maputo) and eventually Port Natal (Durban) was well established. Finally, it is always possible that, rather than being a direct product of trade, the Sibudu cache of glass beads was recovered from a shipwreck on the coast. If that were the case, however, the beads would have been recovered shortly after the wreck since they show no sign of water or beach abrasion.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank S. Woodborne of the CSIR for the radiocarbon dates. T.N. Huffman kindly discussed some of the Iron Age issues relevant to this paper. G. Whitelaw provided valuable information on archaeological sites and early records. Sibudu research is financially assisted by the NRF. We thank the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, for ongoing support.

NOTE1 An export permit (80/08/06/021/52) was obtained from SAHRA for the non-destructive analysis of 16

glass beads at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, USA. The beads have been returned to South Africa and are in temporary storage at the University of the Witwatersrand, but they will be housed in the Natal Museum from 2009.


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256 SOUTHERN AFRICAN HUMANITIES, VOL. 21, 2009A

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tmen

tsi

ze

rang

ele

ngth

ra

tiodi

apha

neity

surf

ace

Mun

sell

code

colo

ur

grou

p

4dr

awn

tube

light

ly

rehe

ated

smal

lsh

ort

trans

luce

nt/

opaq

uesh

iny

2.5B

G 6

/2bl

ue-g

reen

1dr

awn

tube

light

ly

rehe

ated

smal

lsh

ort

trans

luce

nt/

opaq

uedu

ll2.

5BG

6/2

blue

-gre

en

1dr

awn

tube

light

ly

rehe

ated

smal

lst

anda

rdtra

nslu

cent

/op

aque

shin

y2.

5BG

6/6

blue

-gre

en

1dr

awn

tube

light

ly

rehe

ated

smal

lst

anda

rdtra

nslu

cent

/op

aque

shin

y2.

5BG

6/6

blue

-gre

en

1dr

awn

tube

light

ly

rehe

ated

smal

lsh

ort

trans

luce

nt/

trans

pare

ntsh

iny

2.5B

G 6

/2bl

ue-g

reen

SBD

U 1

51

draw

n tu

behe

at tr

eate

d/fla

ttene

dm

ediu

msh

ort

opaq

uesh

iny

10R

4/4

br

owni

sh-r

ed

SBD

U 1

61

draw

n tu

behe

at tr

eate

d/fla

ttene

dm

ediu

msh

ort

opaq

uesh

iny

10R

4/4

br

owni

sh-r

ed

183

draw

ntu

belig

htly

re

heat

edm

ediu

msh

ort

opaq

uego

od10

R 4

/4

brow

nish

-red

16dr

awn

tube

light

ly

rehe

ated

med

ium

stan

dard

opaq

uego

od10

R 4

/4

brow

nish

-red

2dr

awn

tube

light

ly

rehe

ated

min

ute

long

opaq

uego

od10

R 4

/4 to

10

R 3

/6 to

10

R 2

/4br

owni

sh-r

ed

320

draw

ntu

belig

htly

re

heat

edm

inut

esh

ort

opaq

uego

od10

R 4

/4 to

10

R 3

/6 to

10

R 2

/4br

owni

sh-r

ed

108

draw

ntu

belig

htly

re

heat

edm

inut

est

anda

rdop

aque

good

10R

4/4

to

10R

3/6

to

10R

2/4

brow

nish

-red

SBD

U 1

41

draw

n tu

behe

at tr

eate

d/fla

ttene

dsm

all

stan

dard

opaq

uesh

iny

10R

4/4

br

owni

sh-r

ed

8dr

awn

tube

light

ly

rehe

ated

smal

llo

ngop

aque

good

10R

4/4

to

10R

3/6

to

10R

2/4

brow

nish

-red

1198

draw

ntu

belig

htly

re

heat

edsm

all

shor

top

aque

good

10R

4/4

to

10R

3/6

to

10R

2/4

brow

nish

-red

APP

END

IX 1

cco

ntin

ued)

Des

crip

tion

of lo

ose

Sibu

du g

lass

bea

ds.


APP

END

IX 1

(con

tinue

d)D

escr

iptio

n of

loos

e Si

budu

gla

ss b

eads

.

bead

IDqu

antit

yqu

antit

yfr

agm

ents

how

mad

esh

ape

end

trea

tmen

tsi

ze

rang

ele

ngth

ra

tiodi

apha

neity

surf

ace

Mun

sell

code

colo

ur

grou

p

1198

draw

ntu

belig

htly

re

heat

edsm

all

shor

top

aque

good

10R

4/4

to

10R

3/6

to

10R

2/4

brow

nish

-red

401

draw

ntu

belig

htly

re

heat

edsm

all

stan

dard

opaq

uego

od10

R 4

/4 to

10

R 3

/6 to

10

R 2

/4br

owni

sh-r

ed

3dr

awn

tube

light

ly

rehe

ated

smal

lst

anda

rdtra

nslu

cent

shin

y10

GY

5/4

gree

n

SBD

U 0

31

draw

n tu

belig

htly

re

heat

edsm

all

shor

ttra

nslu

cent

/op

aque

shin

y10

GY

5/4

gree

n

SBD

U 0

41

draw

n tu

belig

htly

re

heat

edsm

all

stan

dard

trans

luce

nt/

opaq

uesh

iny

10G

Y 5

/4gr

een

1dr

awn

tube

light

ly

rehe

ated

min

ute

shor

ttra

nslu

cent

/op

aque

shin

y2.

5G 5

/6gr

een

1dr

awn

tube

light

ly

rehe

ated

smal

lsh

ort

trans

luce

nt/

opaq

uedu

ll10

GY

5/4

gree

n

SBD

U 0

21

draw

n tu

belig

htly

re

heat

edm

ediu

msh

ort

trans

luce

nt/

opaq

uesh

iny

5Y 7

/8ye

llow

SBD

U 0

11

draw

n cy

linde

rhe

at tr

eate

dsm

all

shor

ttra

nslu

cent

/op

aque

shin

y7.

5Y 7

/8ye

llow

1dr

awn

tube

light

ly

rehe

ated

med

ium

shor

ttra

nslu

cent

/op

aque

dull

5Y 8

/6ye

llow

4dr

awn

cylin

der

heat

trea

ted

smal

lsh

ort

trans

luce

nt/

opaq

uesh

iny

5Y 8

/6ye

llow

1dr

awn

obla

tehe

at tr

eate

dsm

all

shor

ttra

nslu

cent

/op

aque

dull

7.5Y

8.5

/10

yello

w


APP

END

IX 2

Res

ults

of c

hem

ical

ana

lysi

s of S

ibud

u be

ads.

Con

cent

ratio

ns a

re in

wei

ght p

erce

nt o

r ppm

of o

xide

(0.1

% =

100

0 pp

m);

nm =

not

mea

sure

d.

Bea

d ID

SBD

U01

SBD

U

02SB

DU

03

SBD

U

04SB

DU

05

SBD

U

06SB

DU

07

SBD

U

08SB

DU

09

SBD

U

10SB

DU

11

SBD

U

12SB

DU

13

SBD

U

14SB

DU

15

SBD

U

16

Col

our

yello

wye

llow

gree

ngr

een

blue

- gr

nbl

ue-

grn

blue

- gr

nbl

ue-

grn

blue

- gr

nbl

ue-

grn

blue

blue

blue

br-r

edbr

-red

br-r

ed

LiO

260

9663

6962

7251

5365

3961

8468

8555

88N

a 2O14

.9%

21.2

%19

.6%

22.2

%19

.9%

18.9

%16

.5%

17.7

%19

.1%

16.0

%19

.5%

18.4

%19

.2%

20.2

%18

.4%

21.4

%M

gO0.

9%1.

0%0.

8%0.

9%0.

5%0.

9%0.

4%0.

7%0.

7%0.

6%0.

8%1.

1%0.

9%1.

0%0.

8%0.

7%A

l 2O3

7.2%

9.1%

7.6%

8.1%

9.3%

8.8%

10.3

%4.

8%6.

3%5.

0%5.

7%6.

0%7.

0%6.

8%4.

4%6.

9%Si

O2

64.0

%54

.2%

59.8

%55

.3%

60.8

%62

.9%

64.9

%69

.5%

67.3

%71

.0%

66.6

%66

.0%

64.6

%61

.5%

66.4

%60

.7%

P 2O5

0.1%

0.1%

0.2%

0.1%

0.08

%0.

1%0.

09%

0.08

%0.

1%0.

1%0.

1%0.

09%

0.2%

0.07

%0.

2%0.

2%K

2O3.

2%1.

8%3.

1%2.

5%3.

6%2.

2%4.

6%1.

3%2.

0%2.

3%1.

8%1.

6%2.

0%1.

4%1.

9%2.

1%C

aO2.

7%3.

5%3.

6%3.

5%2.

6%2.

7%1.

6%3.

8%1.

8%2.

5%3.

4%4.

6%3.

2%3.

4%3.

0%2.

1%Ti

O2

4708

6926

6004

7945

4785

6562

3944

4348

4203

3738

3515

4986

5517

5183

3914

4965

V2O

534

829

750

458

224

327

832

631

531

137

431

228

736

026

535

836

3C

r 2O3

3433

3029

3847

1141

3347

5228

7142

5253

MnO

0.05

%0.

07%

0.11

%0.

06%

0.06

%0.

06%

0.06

%0.

03%

0.05

%0.

08%

0.09

%0.

04%

0.07

%0.

09%

0.04

%0.

07%

Fe2O

32.

1%2.

7%4.

3%6.

1%1.

8%2.

4%1.

0%1.

5%1.

8%1.

7%1.

8%2.

2%2.

5%3.

2%2.

9%3.

5%C

oO21

3018

813

314

257.

816

025

591

1366

1624

2713

1829

27N

iO39

4444

6528

5320

7849

221

570

510

1175

3832

43C

uO0.

05%

0.02

%0.

5%0.

7%1.

3%0.

8%0.

4%0.

5%0.

6%0.

7%0.

0%0.

0%0.

0%0.

8%0.

7%0.

9%Z

nO40

619

6110

162

3958

656

3711

5755

6744

8566

4460

As 2O

33

617

080

715

1725

811

1222

2420

2388

5489

759

27


Rb 2O

7262

7872

142

9415

348

5155

4847

6842

4680

SrO

235

263

327

334

322

238

208

194

186

176

241

200

255

267

201

169

Y2O

321

3019

2022

2425

1718

1717

2125

2319

25Z

rO2

209

360

225

298

783

306

292

244

200

191

190

234

246

345

444

258

NbO

216

2014

1713

187.

611

1010

1113

1617

1216

MoO

2nm

nmnm

nmnm

nmnm

nmnm

nmnm

nmnm

1.5

6.0

6.6

InO

0.4

0.5

0.08

0.2

1.1

0.06

0.04

0.04

0.1

0.03

0.04

0.03

0.03

0.04

0.06

0.05

SnO

20.

6%1.

2%0.

09%

0.09

%0.

004%

0.1%

0.01

%0.

001%

0.1%

0.00

5%0.

01%

0.00

05%

0.02

%0.

007%

0.00

5%0.

005%

Sb2O

57

2716

2345

1517

1316

212.

51.

43.

221

2430

Cs 2O

0.8

0.7

1.0

1.0

1.0

1.8

1.1

0.6

0.7

0.6

0.6

0.9

0.9

0.4

0.6

0.8

BaO

345

505

434

428

659

451

563

290

286

356

355

277

554

353

255

354

La 2O

338

5134

3525

4435

2628

3632

3649

4430

40C

e 2O3

103

128

8271

6296

7862

6572

6778

105

8968

102

Pr2O

39.

111

.47.

57.

55.

910

.08.

15.

76.

47.

16.

57.

710

.19.

66.

48.

8N

d 2O3

3238

2525

2134

2719

2124

2226

3431

2129

Sm2O

35.

87.

14.

64.

85.

46.

35.

63.

74.

04.

03.

94.

86.

36.

03.

85.

4E

u 2O3

0.9

1.3

0.9

1.0

0.9

1.1

0.6

0.7

0.7

0.7

0.7

0.9

1.2

0.8

0.6

0.9

Bea

d ID

SBD

U01

SBD

U

02SB

DU

03

SBD

U

04SB

DU

05

SBD

U

06SB

DU

07

SBD

U

08SB

DU

09

SBD

U

10SB

DU

11

SBD

U

12SB

DU

13

SBD

U

14SB

DU

15

SBD

U

16

Col

our

yello

wye

llow

gree

ngr

een

blue

- gr

nbl

ue-

grn

blue

- gr

nbl

ue-

grn

blue

- gr

nbl

ue-

grn

blue

blue

blue

br-r

edbr

-red

br-r

ed

APP

END

IX 2

(con

tinue

d)R

esul

ts o

f che

mic

al a

naly

sis o

f Sib

udu

bead

s. C

once

ntra

tions

are

in w

eigh

t per

cent

or p

pm o

f oxi

de (0

.1%

= 1

000

ppm

); nm

= n

ot m

easu

red.

A cache of ~5000 glass beads from the Sibudu Cave Iron Age occupation

Documents

Transcript of A cache of ~5000 glass beads from the Sibudu Cave Iron Age occupation