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A friend has asked if more info on this bead can be found. It is from southern England, a stray find in a field it is resting on kitchen tissue (gives an idea of scale) glass...
I think it may be Iron Age... any ideas?
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Looks like a classic spiral-type bead. Is the finder willing to let Mike have a look at it as it's a type he's been working on. He'd be thrilled to have a closer look as the spiral beads are very difficult to make. Probably an Oldbury type bead, because of the spirals. Guido's Type 6, Oldbury and Colchester types. Lots found all over the place including Ireland as well as up to Yorkshire, I-A through Roman.
More info if required.
Prime practitioner of headology, with a side order of melting glass with a stern glare.
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Looks similar to the "Glanbidno-Uchaf bead" found during the excavation on an Iron Age hill fort near Abergavenny -
http://education.gtj.org.uk/en/blowup1/25830. The Glanbidno-Uchaf bead is thought to be a late Iron Age continental import
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28th July 2010, 10:19 AM
(This post was last modified: 28th July 2010, 10:30 AM by mpoole.)
I believe that's the one in the National Museum Wales, looks like the same set we saw a few years ago. The spiral bead can be horned or more flattened as the one in the photo too. The technique to produce that particular style is much-debated and as yet no one has been able to reproduce the style. We think it's a blend of furnace-work to produce the spiral cane, along with beadmaking techniques.
There are also a lot of variations on a theme of spirals, but the beadmaker has a lot of input into the final appearance as the one from the field find is much more of a flush appearance as opposed to the Welsh bead. There are similar beads from Scotland, too.
Unfortunately, the most recent (and only) publication on beads in general from the IA and Romano-British periods is the Guido book, which is a bit out of date as so many beads have been found since then but it's still a great starting place for classifying bead finds.
Prime practitioner of headology, with a side order of melting glass with a stern glare.
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I'll pass that on... and also the suggestion to have it looked at more.
:face-approve:
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Thanks! Now, where's that field, again?
Prime practitioner of headology, with a side order of melting glass with a stern glare.
