Stop 7 - Trade Beads

Beads were important objects of exchange in the Indian Ocean world as well as being used by Europeans trying to establish new trading networks with local people in this region. These amber, coral and faience beads all come from the wreck of the Batavia. The two small beads are made from glass or Faience which is a glazed quartzite paste. It's the earliest artificial material from which beads were made. It first appeared in Egypt some 5000 years ago, a millennium before the invention of glass. Faience beads were widely traded in the Old World; they turn up in archaeological sites throughout the Mediterranean, in Europe, Africa, and Asia, and notably in India at sites along the Indus River.

Different types of beads had different purposes and values depending on the sort of interactions taking place, as well as the social status of the recipients. At the Cape of Good Hope, at the tip of South Africa, an important provisioning stop on the long voyage between the Netherlands and the East Indies, beads were an important currency to barter for wood, fresh water and meat. VOC documents from the Cape describe how red beads were used to buy cattle. These beads, similar to the coral necklace in front of you, were then worn by the local women.

The other necklace on display is made of small coloured glass beads, and was part of a ritual costume worn by Lotud priestesses in Borneo. The strand comprises beads dated from the 15th to17th centuries. Lapis lazuli and carnelian from India, blue glass wound beads and white glass beads from China, with silver links from Brunei. Most interestingly, the centrepiece is a VOC coin dated 1767.

Keep your eye for some of the world's oldest beads made from shell in the ‘Treasures from the Sea' section further on in this exhibition.