Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean World in the First Millennium CE: The Glass Bead Evidence

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Early Exchange between Africa and the Wider Indian Ocean World

Part of the book series: Palgrave Series in Indian Ocean World Studies ((IOWS))

Abstract

The glass beads that were imported into eastern Africa in the first millennium CE have the potential to add significant detail to our understanding of eastern Africa’s interaction with the Indian Ocean World. This study will show that proposed evidence for interaction with Rome in the first half of the first millennium that is based on the presence of glass beads is inconclusive. However, a good deal of insight about East African trade with the Indian Ocean in the second half of the first millennium has come to light based on glass beads recently found at Unguja Ukuu in Zanzibar. Beads of two main glass types were recovered and, based on glass chemistry and method of manufacture, it appears likely that one type was made in Sri Lanka (or possibly South India) while the other was made of Near Eastern glass that was probably traded to Southeast Asia where it was made into beads before arriving in Zanzibar via Sri Lanka. Meanwhile the glass beads traded into southern Africa in this period appear to have been made in the general region of the Persian Gulf and were brought to the south by ships from Oman and the Gulf.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Callmer, J. 1995. The Influx of Oriental Beads into Europe during the 8th Century AD. In Glass Beads: Cultural History, Technology, Experiment and Analogy, ed. M. Rasmussen, U.L. Hansen, and U. Näsman, 49–54. Lejre: Historical-Archaeological Experimental Centre.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carboni, S. 2013. The Mantai Glass. In Mantai—A City by the Sea, ed. J. Carswell, S. Deraniyagala, and A. Graham, 313–348. Aichwald, Germany: Linden Soft Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chaisuwan, B. 2011. Early Contacts between India and the Andaman Coast in Thailand from the Second Century BCE to Eleventh Century CE. In Early Interactions between South and Southeast Asia: Reflections on Cross-Cultural Exchange, ed. P.-Y. Manguin, A. Mani, and G. Wade, 83–112. Singapore: ISEAS Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chami, F. 1999. Roman Beads from the Rufiji Delta, Tanzania: First Incontrovertible Archaeological Link with the Periplus. Current Anthropology 40(2): 237–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2002. The Excavations of Kaole Ruins. In Southern Africa and the Swahili World, ed. F. Chami et al., 25–49. Dar-es-Salaam: University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chittick, H.N. 1974. Kilwa; An Islamic Trading City on the East African Coast: The Finds, vol 2. Nairobi: The British Institute in East Africa.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1977. The East Coast, Madagascar and the Indian Ocean. In The Cambridge History of Africa c.1050–c.1600, vol. 3, ed. R. Oliver, 183–231. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denbow, J., C. Klehm, and L. Dussubieux. 2015. The Glass Beads of Kaitshàa and Early Indian Ocean Trade into the Far Interior of Southern Africa. Antiquity 89(344): 361–377.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dussubieux, L. 2001. L’Apport de l’ablation laser couplée à l’ICP-MS à l’étude du verre archéologique de l’Ocean Indien. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Université d’Orléans, France.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dussubieux, L., et al. 2008. The Trading of Ancient Glass Beads: New Analytical Data from South Asian and East African Soda-Alumina Glass Beads. Archaeometry 50(5): 797–821.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2009. LA-ICP-MS Analysis of African Glass Beads: Laboratory Inter-Comparison with an Emphasis on the Impact of Corrosion on Data Interpretation. International Journal of Mass Spectrometry 284(1–3): 152–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2010. Mineral Soda Alumina Glass: Occurrence and Meaning. Journal of Archaeological Science 37(7): 1646–1655.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ekblom, A. 2004. Changing Landscapes: An Environmental History of Chibuene, Southern Mozambique. Uppsala: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleisher, J. 2010. Swahili Synoecism: Rural Settlements and Town Formation on the Central East African Coast, A.D. 750–1500. Journal of Field Archaeology 35(3): 265–282.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Francis, P. 1989. Mantai: Bead Crossroads of the Medieval World. Beads 12(3): 82–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2002a. Asia’s Maritime Bead Trade: 300 B.C. to the Present. Honolulu: University of Hawai’I Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2002b. Human Ornaments. In Berenike 1998: Report of the 1998 Excavations at Berenike and the Survey of the Egyptian Eastern Desert, Including Excavations in Wadi Kalalat, ed. S. Sidebotham and W. Wendrich, 211–225. Leiden: Universiteit Leiden.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2013. The Beads. In Mantai—A City by the Sea, ed. J. Carswell, S. Deraniyagala, and A. Graham, 349–369. Aichwald: Linden Soft Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman-Grenville, G.S.P., ed. 1962. The East African Coast. Select Documents from the First to the Earlier Nineteenth Century. Oxford: Clarendon Press [Reprint 1975. London: Collins].

    Google Scholar 

  • Hannibal-Deraniyagala, A. 2013. The Beads: Addendum 2. In Mantai—A City by the Sea, ed. J. Carswell, S. Deraniyagala, and A. Graham, 370–373. Aichwald: Linden Soft Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, J., S.D. McLoughlin, and D.S. McPhail. 2004. Radical Changes in Islamic Glass Technology: Evidence for Conservatism and Experimentation with New Glass Recipes from Early and Middle Islamic Raqqa, Syria. Archaeometry 46: 439–468.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horton, M. 1996. Shanga. The Archaeology of a Muslim Trading Community on the Coast of East Africa. London: British Institute in Eastern Africa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horton, Mark, and J. Middleton. 2000. The Swahili: The Social Landscape of a Mercantile Society. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hourani, George Fadlo. 1995. Arab Seafaring in the Indian Ocean in Ancient and Medieval Times. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Juma, A.M. 2004. Unguja Ukuu on Zanzibar: An Archaeological Study of Early Urbanism. Uppsala: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khan, F.A. 1963. Banbhore: A Preliminary Report on the Recent Archaeological Excavations at Banbhore. Karachi: Government of Pakistan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kock, J., and T. Sode. 1994. Glass, Glassbeads and Glassmakers in Northern India. Vanlose, Denmark: THOT Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lankton, J., and L. Dussubieux. 2006. Early Glass in the Asian Maritime Trade: A Review and an Interpretation of Compositional Analyses. Journal of Glass Studies 48: 121–144.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2013. Early Glass in Southeast Asia. In Modern Methods for Analysing Archaeological and Historical Glass, vol 1, ed. K. Janssens, 415–443. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lankton, J., L. Dussubieux, and T. Rehren. 2008. A Study of Mid-First Millennium CE Southeast Asian Specialized Glass Beadmaking Traditions. In Interpreting Southeast Asia’s Past: Monument, Image and Text, ed. E. Bacus, I. Glover, and P. Sharrock, 335–356. Singapore: NUS Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • LaViolette, A., and J. Fleisher. 2009. The Urban History of a Rural Place: Swahili Archaeology on Pemba Island, Tanzania, 700–1500 AD. International Journal of African Historical Studies 42(3): 433–455.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morrison, H. 1984. The Beads. In Manda: Excavations at an Island Port on the Kenyan Coast, ed. N. Chittick, 181–189. Nairobi: The British Institute in Eastern Africa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollard, E.J.D. 2007. An Archaeology of Tanzanian Coastal Landscapes in the Middle Iron Age (6th to 15th Centuries AD). PhD dissertation, University of Ulster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pouwels, R.L. 2002. Eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean to 1800: Reviewing Relations in Historical Perspective. The International Journal of African Historical Studies 35.2(3): 385–425.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Radimilahy, C. 1998. Mahilaka: An Archaeological Investigation of an Early Town in Northwestern Madagascar. Uppsala: Uppsala University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robertshaw, P., et al. 2006. Chemical Analysis of Glass Beads from Madagascar. Journal of African Archaeology 4(1): 91–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sidebotham, S.E. 1996. Roman Interests in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. In The Indian Ocean in Antiquity, ed. J. Reade, 287–308. London/New York/Bahrain: Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sinclair, P.J.J. 1982. Chibuene—An Early Trading Site in Southern Mozambique. Paideuma 28: 149–164.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1987. Space, Time and Social Formation: A Territorial Approach to the Archaeology and Anthropology of Zimbabwe and Mozambique c. 0–1700 AD. Uppsala: Societas Archaeologica Upsaliensis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tampoe, M. 1989. Maritime Trade between China and the West: An Archaeological Study of the Ceramics from Siraf (Persian Gulf), 8th to 15th Centuries A.D. Oxford: Archaeopress.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Trimingham, J.S. 1975a. The Arab Geographers and the East African Coast. In East Africa and the Orient: Cultural Synthesis in Pre-Colonial Times, ed. N. Chittick and R.I. Rotberg, 115–146. New York: Africana Publishing Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1975b. Notes on Arabic Sources of Information on East Africa. In East Africa and the Orient, ed. H.N. Chittick and R.I. Rotberg, 272–283. New York: Africana Publishing Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitehouse, D. 1996. Sasanian Maritime Activity. In Indian Ocean in Antiquity, ed. J. Reade, 339–349. London/New York: Kegan Paul International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilmsen, E. 2013. Landlinks: The Extension of Inter-Oceanic Exchange from the Coast to the Far Interior. Paper presented at the Conference Proto-Globalization in the Indian Ocean World: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. University of Oxford, Oxford, 7–10 November.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, M. 2000. Making Connections: Relationships between International Trade and Glass Beads from the Shashe-Limpopo Area. South African Archaeological Society Goodwin Series 8: 78–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2005. Glass Beads and Pre-European Trade in the Shashe-Limpopo Region. MA Thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2011a. A Glass Bead Sequence for Southern Africa from the 8th to the 16th Century AD. Journal of African Archaeology 9(1): 67–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2011b. Interconnections: Glass Beads and Trade in Southern and Eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean—7th to 16th Centuries AD. Uppsala: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, M., L. Dussubieux, and P. Robertshaw. 2012. Glass Finds from Chibuene. A 6th to 17th Century AD Port in Southern Mozambique. South African Archaeological Bulletin 67(195): 59–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, M., et al. 2016. Zanzibar and Indian Ocean Trade in the First Millennium CE: The Glass Bead Evidence. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences: 1–23. doi:10.107/s12520-015-0310-z.

  • Wright, H.T. 1984. Early Seafarers of the Comoro Islands: The Dembeni Phase of the IXth-Xth Centuries AD. Azania 19(1): 13–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1990. Trade and Politics on the Eastern Littoral of Africa A.D. 800–1300. In Urban Origins in Eastern Africa: Proceedings of the 1989 Madagascar Workshop’, ed. P.J.J. Sinclair and L.A. Rakotoarisoa, 10–20. Stockholm: Central Board of Swedish Antiquities.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, H.T., and F. Fanony. 1992. L’évolution des systèmes d’occupation des sols dans la vallèe de la rivière Mananara au nord-est de Madagascar. Taloha 11: 16–64.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Marilee Wood

Authors
  1. Marilee Wood
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. McGill University, Montreal, Canada

    Gwyn Campbell

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Wood, M. (2016). Eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean World in the First Millennium CE: The Glass Bead Evidence. In: Campbell, G. (eds) Early Exchange between Africa and the Wider Indian Ocean World . Palgrave Series in Indian Ocean World Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33822-4_8

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33822-4_8

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-33821-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-33822-4

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation