Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2007, Page 27

Medieval and early modern Beads from Iceland
area although jasper and other types were
worked as well. Local sandstone was used
for the production of cuhing and polish-
ing wheels and originally the Nahe River
was used to power the grinding wheels
for this process. The stones were cut into
all sorts of object such as bowls, dishes,
buttons and beads. By the turn of the 18th
century around 15 workshops were in
operation cutting agate and by the 19th
century that number had doubled. By this
time the local agate supplies were close to
being exhausted. The stone cutting indus-
try in this area was saved when German
emigrants that had moved to Brazil dis-
covered large quantities of agate there.
Large scale export of agate back to Ger-
many started and by the latter half of 19th
century there were more than 150 cutting
workshops in Idar-Oberstein. Although
agate and to some extent jasper dominat-
ed in the first century of large-scale stone
cutting in Idar-Oberstein, subsequently
many other types of stone were imported
and cut in the area, which today remains
one of the world’s principal stone cutting
areas.10
The majority of stone beads found
in medieval and early modern Iceland are
spherical/rounded (see for example Alþ99-
275 - figure 4, nr. 8) but some have facet-
ted surfaces and one is an elongated hex-
agonal bead (see for example jasper bead
SKH-672 - figure 4, nr. 9). Most, if not all
of the stone beads were imported. Most of
these beads have a tight date, coming from
17*-19* century contexts.
Other beads
Beads from few materials other than
those already accounted for, have been
found in Iceland. Of these, some were
unidentifiable and with others, there
are only one to three examples of each
(e.g. plastic and alabaster) and they will
therefore not be discussed. The only
exceptions are beads made out of bone/
animal teeth and wood. Six bone/teeth
beads have been found from medieval
and early modern times. All are simple
in shape and could well have been made
in Iceland. The most interesting of these
is a walrus tooth bead (RKH-1989-33-
367), which was probably made from a
walrus post-canine tooth. It was found
in Reykholt and is considered to be from
the 17*-18* centuries. The Atlantic wal-
ruses were heavily exploited in the 18*
and 19* century and it is possible that
the bead was made in Iceland. Altogether
29 wooden beads have been found up to
2005. They come from three locations,
predominantly from Stóraborg in Rangár-
vallasýsla but also a few from Viðey and
the Parliament house plot in Reykja-
vík. All of the wooden beads that come
from tightly dated contexts are from the
14th—16* centuries. Most of them are in
very poor condition and hence there is
little one can say about their character-
istics. Most of them are spherical/oval or
biconical and none have any additional
carvings or decoration (see for example
Alþ99-340 - figure 4, nr. 3). It is not
unlikely that many of the beads were
imported as a set of necklaces but given
their simplicity and shape, most of them
could equally well be home made. Wood-
en beads were made all over Europe and
beyond and therefore it is impossible to
determine where these beads were made,
without further analysis of the wood.
10This chapter is mostly based on Collective Soul: The History Behind the Gem Industry in Idar-Oberstein By Cara
Woudenberg found online (http://www.tucsonshowguide.com/stories/may03/idar2.cfm )
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