Beads of Different Periods

Thousands of beads, spanning the prehistoric to the modern eras, have been spotted by many a diligent eye standing by a sifting station. The beads are formed of many different materials — bone, shell, precious and semi‑precious stone, glass, metal, and even modern plastic to name a few.

A recent study conducted on the drilling technique used to form some of our carnelian beads placed them in sundry ages — some show drill marks unique to the Intermediate Bronze Age, during the late 3rd millennium BCE, while others are harder to pin down, having been drilled with a technique which remained popular from the Bronze Age till late antiquity. The majority of the carnelian beads show evidence of being drilled with diamond dust, a technique first brought to our area in the Early Islamic Period.