The world’s oldest beads were made in Egypt and Syria nearly 4000 years ago. The first glass beads were rare luxury items used by the upper classes and they were also an important trading commodity throughout antiquity. Wherever they went, Roman and later Arab traders took glass beads with them to exchange and sell.
Scandinavian glass beads make their appearance just before the Viking Age. The Vikings are keen glass bead craftsmen and in parallel with their domestic production do a considerable amount of importing, particularly of Oriental glass beads. Our exhibition follows the history of the bead from the year 0 to the Viking Age, a period of 900 years that covers most of the Iron Age. We also take a quick look back at the Stone Age so that we can display our oldest objects of amber.
From there we take a jump forward and allow prehistoric beads to sparkle alongside beads from more recent times. The exhibition shows conservator and bead expert Torben Sode’s private collection of glass beads from all over the world, with the addition of beads from the Museum’s own collections - many of which have never been on public display before.
The Museum has beads on the brain this autumn and is arranging talks on beads, bead workshops and story hours for children, as well as guided tours of the bead exhibition. For more information, take a look at our activities calendar. Please also note that our Museum Shop is full of beautiful, colourful copies of beads.
Museum of Archaeology, University of Stavanger. 12 September 2010 – 30 January 2011
