Ancient Sumerian Stone & Shell Beads - One Pound of Disc Beads for

Near East, Mesopotamia, Sumerian. A full pound of ancient beads in small disc and short tube forms, each drilled through the center for stringing. The palette ranges from bone white and cream through gray to muted earthen tones, with some beads retaining the pale surface bloom typical of aged faience, a self-glazing quartz paste used across early Mesopotamia. Others are cut from stone, with edges softened by handling and burial. Beads of this type were strung into necklaces, bracelets, garment trim, and votive offerings. Bead production in the Sumerian city-states was industrial in scale. Excavations at Ur, Kish, and Nippur recovered beads by the tens of thousands, drilled from limestone, steatite, shell, carnelian, and vitreous frit, the last a precursor of true glass. Drilling was accomplished with a copper or flint-tipped bow drill fed by an abrasive slurry of sand and water, a slow process that made even the humblest bead a measured investment of labor. Strung ornaments carried more than decorative weight: multi-strand collars and beaded headdresses marked rank, and beads placed in burials functioned as portable wealth and as apotropaic protection for the journey beyond. Bulk lots such as this one typically derive from disturbed or previously excavated cemetery deposits, where the strings long ago perished and the beads survived alone. Item # 203211

Estimate:$350

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