2024/03/07 by Joanna Then-Obłuska, Joanna Then‐Obłuska · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Engineering · #Adornment #Aesthetics #Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History #Ancient history #Archaeology #Archaeology and Historical Studies #Art #Bead #Engineering #Geography #History #Late Antiquity #Maritime and Coastal Archaeology #Mechanical engineering #Port (circuit theory) #Visual arts
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/0067270x.2024.2316527
openalex publication_date 2024/03/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Next to pottery, items of adornment comprise the most abundant material excavated in Northeast Africa, often being the only evidence for long-distance interactions. Interdisciplinary research has been developed to demonstrate that beads, particularly those of Indian origin from port sites on the Red Sea coast of Egypt, may attest to intense relations between North Africa and Asia. Parallels and provenance examination of recent bead and jewellery finds (four silver and coral earrings, eight silver rings and about eleven ivory bangles) from two Late Antiquity tombs of the fourth/fifth centuries AD at Berenike also suggest links between the Red Sea coast and the Nubian Nile Valley. Additionally, these ornaments raise questions as to their function in multiple burials. It is not possible to determine whether they were used as part of the funerary ritual or as offerings to the individuals buried, but several observations can be offered.