From time immemorial people have made beads from a broad variety of materials, beginning with found objects that had interesting shapes, colors, or patterns, and that were easily altered with the usable technology of the time.
Many early beads may have been materials that when found were already perforated-as happens with mollusk shells and even amber. Certain materials were soft enough to require low-tech altering-such as punching or piercing, and not much more. It cannot be doubted that organic materials, from an everyday environment, were the most likely candidates for early bead making, but because of their impermanence, they do not persist well through time.

Once technology facilitated the cutting, grinding, and drilling of materials, beads were made from more durable substances. By the 3rd millennium BCE, there were crafts-specialists whose daily jobs were to make beads and ornaments, and significant processes were devised to create these beautiful objects.

The earliest beads were most likely organic, and many of these have not survived the ravages of time and environment. Materials such as wood and seeds, bone and ivory, horn, shell, amber, and coral were the most universal and often available substances. Amber, though rare in many locales, was traded extensively in ancient times. Like all organics, it tends to disintegrate, if it survives at all; and the artifact is often fairly delicate.

Although historical records cite coral as a significant material, in fact it's occurrence among ancient beads is rather rare.

Organic materials often require lapidary skills for their conversion to ornaments--such as cutting, grinding, polishing, and drilling. However, some items, such as shells and teeth, were considered attractive as they were acquired, and did not require alteration beyond simple drilling for stringing or suspension.

From the earliest times, mollusk shells provided considerable material for bead making-because these animals were significant foods for coastal people, and thus their shells were readily available. Also, shell material is attractive, easily worked, and easily transported. Consequently, we find shell pendants and beads far away from the sea shore-where they must have been highly admired and valued, and avidly worn for their symbolic value as well as intrinsic beauty.

We find shell pendants and beads far away from the sea shore-where they must have been highly admired and valued, and avidly worn for their symbolic value as well as intrinsic beauty.

Much the same could be said of the materials bone and teeth (ivory)-- these being acquired as the result of successful hunting, and being the trophies that indicated that success. Although shells and bones are organic materials, they are bodily structures that have the highest percentage of included minerals. This helps these materials persist through time-so that thousands of years later, we can recover these things, and admire the art-sensibility of ancient craftsmen.

It goes without saying that stones were used in bead making from the Stone Age and since then. In general, softer stones were exploited before harder stones. However this does not necessarily mean that all soft-stone beads are older than hard-stone beads. Beads are closely allied to the tools of their period, since they result from using those actual tools, and they share characteristics in common with the tools of production.

The typical stone bead is roughed-out (crudely or basically shaped), refined by means of grinding or abrasion, and finished by polishing. Stone beads also require drilling to provide a perforation.
Each of these steps is regarded as typical of lapidary work. If the bead has additional decorative effects applied, these also result from those techniques. For instance, drilling to facilitate designs or parts of designs was often used.

The use of hard stones for bead making began as early as about 7,000 BCE, but became more standard by about 3,000 BCE.

In examining ancient beads, we become aware that not all beads have survived well in their interment. Environmental factors often compromise the appearance of beads, making them dull, or covered with a superficial (or deep) decay or discoloration.

When you make an inquiry, we make considerable effort to describe beads as accurately as possible, in terms of condition and state of preservation.