Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2007, Page 13

Medieval and early modern Beads from Iceland
usage insofar as rosaries were consid-
ered to be religious/superstitious props
by many protestants and were frowned
upon as such. In England, for example,
Elizabeth I forbade the manufacture of
beads, crosses and pictures in the 16th
century and James I, her successor, rein-
forced the law by banning imported beads
as well (Johnson 1997:15). The need for
such laws however, probably suggests
that beads continued to be used after the
Reformation even in protestant coun-
tries. The archaeological evidence from
Iceland indicates an increase in bead use
(especially glass beads) in the course of
the 16th— 18th centuries. It seems possible
that beads continued to have a religious
meaning in Icelandic society, judging
from the fact that a large proportion of
the beads from this period comes from
excavated churches or religious centers,
a point I will come back to at the end of
this paper.
A total of 340 beads dated from
the end of 1 lth century to the end of the
19th century has been recovered in Ice-
land. The beads come from 50 differ-
ent sites which are distributed unevenly
across the country - mostly reflecting
the uneven distribution of excavation
(Figure 1). Of the later beads 74% come
from controlled excavations while 26%
are stray finds. It is noticeable that more
than three quarters of the beads have been
recovered in the last 15-25 years, reflect-
ing both increased interest in excavations
of post Viking Age sites in Iceland, as well
as improved recovery of small objects.
Of datable beads only 20-30% are from
before 1500/1550 while the greater part
of the assemblage, 70-80% is from the
later part of the 16th century and after.
This is partly explained by the small
number of excavations and archaeological
investigations into the period 1100-1550
in Iceland (Orri Vésteinsson 2004), but
probably also reflects the fact that beads
do not seem to have been common in this
period in Europe.
In this overview of medieval
and early modern beads found in Iceland,
the focus will inevitably be on the glass
beads; they are the most common type
in this period (although amber beads are
only slightly fewer), and also and more
importantly, they are the most diagnostic
bead group, exhibiting various manufac-
turing techniques and decorative styles.
Of other materials, amber beads make
up the second largest group, followed
by jet, gemstone and wood (Figure 2).
Below I will describe the Icelandic cor-
pus of beads based on material and pro-
duction techniques, give a short overview
of the method of production and where
possible, the origin of the beads. Where
specific beads are mentioned in the text,
numbering refers to the official finds
number, often the National Museum
accession number or individual site finds
catalogues.
Glass beads
Of the 107 glass beads from later cen-
turies found in Iceland, 62% come from
a dated context. Of these only two have
a definite date before the 16th century.
One of these is from Stóraborg in Rangár-
vallasýsla, recovered during a large-scale
excavation of a farm mound. That bead is
dated by context to the 12th—13th centu-
ries. Sadly it is in an extremely bad con-
dition, preserved in pieces and is heavily
damaged by glass disease. The other bead
comes from a test trench at the trading
station at Gásir in Eyjafjörður. The bead
was not available in the museum during
this research but according to the excava-
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