History of Beads

Some historians give credit to the Egyptians for inventing faience beads, others say the process originated in Mesopotamia then was imported to Egypt. This process involves mixing clay with lime, soda and silica sand, shaping it around a straw or other object to form a hole and firing it. The heat melts the silica sand and lime forming a glass-like substance that coats and is incorporated into the clay. This gives a hard glass-like bead and some think it may have been the forerunner to glass making.

The Egyptians were manufacturing glass beads in 1365 BC. They mixed metal salts with silica sand and lime to produce different colors. Cobalt produced blue, tin white, copper green and gold red. At that time glass was used by the Egyptians almost exclusively for beads for ornamentation. Judith Illes has a very interesting article on "Fabulous Fakes".

Historians are still puzzling over whether their jewelry was simply for adornment, or if, as in the case of many ancient cultures, different colors or stones represented different protective or healing properties. Mummies were often covered in a beaded netting, some with religious symbols worked into them.

There is evidence that China has been making and exporting glass beads for centuries, but the most renowned bead factory was located in Venice Italy until concerns that a mishap with one of the glass furnaces could destroy the city. The factory was moved to Murano, an island north of Venice. A guild of Venetian glass makers held a near monopoly on bead making for nearly 600 years until they were no longer able to keep up with demand.

Bohemia (Czechoslovakia) had been making glassware such as vases and cups for centuries and were well versed in the art of glass making. Bohemian workers were sent to work in the glass factories of Murano and the knowledge they brought back to their homeland enabled the Bohemians to begin production of glass beads. In the mid 18th century they were producing more beads than the factories at Murano.

Glass and Brass beads have been found in burial sites of many cultures: Egyptian tombs, Roman catacombs, Saxon, African, and American Indian to name just a few.